
Ask HN: How to handle less-than-committed colleagues? - webmaven
I am working day and night and send emails 24&#x2F;7 whenever I have a question or have completed a task, but my colleagues never reply unless it is during business hours.<p>I am putting an incredible amount of effort to help the company succeed in it&#x27;s mission, but to  the rest of my team it seems like this is just a job, and that is really bugging me.<p>Career growth in the company (raises, bonuses, stock options, promotions) depend on being evaluated according to &quot;relative performance&quot;, and I don&#x27;t <i>want</i> to make the rest of my team look bad (they aren&#x27;t <i>lazy</i>, just have interests and commitments outside of work, and they are very good at what they do), but they aren&#x27;t really stepping up to the plate either, and in some ways I feel they are holding me back when I have to wait until the next day for a response.<p>I am getting the feeling that I have to choose between working as hard as I feel I need to in order to succeed and make the company a success, and maintaining good working relationships with my co-workers.<p>Note: synthetic post written in response to https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=12719089
======
Timucin
"I am working day and night and send emails 24/7 whenever I have a question or
have completed a task, but my colleagues never reply unless it is during
business hours."

Because they are living like normal human beings instead slaves? Being a
workaholic is not healthy and definitely not productive. So I don't think
you're in a position to judge people for it.

I would agree with you if you'd say something like "my colleagues don't do
their work properly while they can" but that's not what I am reading.

~~~
collyw
I wonder if he works with this guy:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12719089](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12719089)

~~~
S4M
In the submission:

> Note: synthetic post written in response to
> [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12719089](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12719089)

------
rforte
I think you'd have a easier time asking yourself why it's important for you to
work day and night and send emails 24/7\. Is it to get rich, make the
investors and founders rich, validation, recognition, etc.? I'm not judging
you but you might want to understand your personal motivation for why the
company needs to be successful.

Like you mentioned, your colleagues are probably not lazy -- it's more likely
they have different values, time commitments, and other responsibilities. For
most of your colleagues I'm sure IT IS just a job. If your top priority in
your life is that you help make the company a success, then more power to you.
Making the company a success is probably not your colleagues top priority.
Trying to make your colleagues top priority "to make the company a success",
likely, won't go over too well either. Hate to break it to you but controlling
what people prioritize in their lives isn't easy.

Try and focus on the things you can control. Otherwise, spending time and
energy focusing on what other people are doing is going to eat you up. Don't
worry about making the rest of your team look bad (side note: you're probably
not going to no matter how good you are). You're not responsible for what
they're doing or how they're perceived. If it really bothers you, you have the
freedom to leave the company and try and find another place where your co-
workers work just as much you do. My guess is you'll find that those places
where you feel people work just as hard as you do are few and far between.

Really quick story: I have a former coworker (call him R) that used to work
nonstop. He was transferred to a new group where he didn't know his new
manager so well. This new manager would leave sporadically during the day or
not respond to emails as quickly as R would like him to. R would go to other
higher ups and complain and try to get his new manager reprimanded, or
preferably, fired. R didn't like when other engineers didn't work as many
hours as he did (especially his manager). One day during lunch, R started
telling people how lazy his manager was and that they should be fired. After
lunch, someone pulled R aside and told him that the reason his manager would
leave work or that they weren't responding to emails was because she was
taking her son to chemotherapy treatments and doctor appointments because her
son was battling leukemia. The point is that you never know what's going on
with other people.

Good luck in your endeavour!

------
winteriscoming
If the reason why you feel this way is solely because your colleagues don't
respond on official day offs, then I don't really think they deserve to be
called lazy.

Sometimes I work on official day offs, but I completely shut myself off from
emails and other things and some of those times I work on things that aren't
even related to my paid work. That really helps me stay refreshed for the rest
of the week to concentrate on office work.

~~~
webmaven
> _I don 't really think they deserve to be called lazy._

Good point, thanks. Headline updated.

~~~
majewsky
The headline now says: "How to handle less-than-committed colleagues?"

I still don't think this does your colleagues justice because it implies that
they are lacking in commitment, which I cannot discern from the explanation
below the question.

If I were your manager, I'd rather be concerned about your overcommitment, for
two reasons:

1\. It sounds unhealthy _for you_ , and I wouldn't want you to burn out.

2\. When people are working basically 24/7, over time, processes will evolve
to rely on their continuous presence, which is also unhealthy _for the
company_ , since mayhem will ensue when you're on a vacation or sick or
unavailable for any other reason, and all the processes requiring your
presence break down.

I'm seeing cases of #2 with some of my coworkers, and it's really hard to get
rid of that once it has crept in (but we're working on it).

------
mping
" and they are very good at what they do), but they aren't really stepping up
to the plate either" \- This doesn't make sense.

Anyway, either they were hired to work during business hours, or not. You
can't hire to work 9-to-5 and expect people to work 24/7\. Besides if you are
working 24/7 you will burn out. It's that simple.

And how big is the company? Is it really the case that one person working
really hard will make a difference? If you work with people, try to understand
their angle; maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong, maybe everyone's right.

~~~
webmaven
Try this rephrasing and see if it makes more sense: _" They are good at what
they do, but aren't doing enough."_

------
gamedna
First and foremost, always do your best no matter what anyone else does. You
are trading your time in exchange for $$ from your employer. By metering your
performance you not only degrade your value, you degrade your entire team.

As an engineering leader, I find that most employees are driven by passion,
and it seems that your colleagues are not passionate about what they are
doing. This may be a sign that your hiring manager may have selected the wrong
people, or in the case that they are the right people that this is a sign to
look for a better opportunity elsewhere.

It sounds like you have a work ethic, and if you are patient it will be
rewarded. Who knows you may end up as the tech-lead someday. Keep it up.

Now for a word of caution... "I am working day and night and send emails 24/7
whenever I have a question or have completed a task" It is critical that you
maintain work/life balance. Allow yourself to unplug during the weekends and
shut off your email after you are done with work. Your mind needs to rest and
recharge.

------
joesmo
Sounds like you are the one with a problem, not them.

------
pyrophane
Synthetic post? So this is a joke?

~~~
paulcole
I think the word they were looking for is synergistic.

~~~
manicdee
No, synthetic. This poster is taking the piss out of the other poster
complaining about a workaholic "team" member making life difficult for the
rest of the team.

OP is not actually asking for advice, just being antagonistic.

~~~
webmaven
Hey, I am _not_ being antagonistic. This comment on the other post asked what
seemed to me to be a good question:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12721029](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12721029)

I tried to sincerely imagine and write this post from a POV that would make
the opposite complaint. If it comes across as sarcastic, I failed.

~~~
manicdee
Poe's law strikes again I suppose. The person in your OP is frustrated by
everyone around them being human and having priorities other than the common
project.

Not a particularly nice person to be around, I imagine. Like Elon Musk (or
Tesla, or other prodigy) without the good bits.

~~~
webmaven
Possibly not nice to be around (certainly not nice to work with, much less
for), and as far as the "good bits" are concerned, it is likely too early in
their career to tell (hard to imagine this attitude surviving past their 1st
or 2nd job)

------
bjourne
I don't know.. maybe the answer to the pair of you is "Mind your own damn
business?"

------
nicomfe
[http://i.onionstatic.com/avclub/5328/63/16x9/640.jpg](http://i.onionstatic.com/avclub/5328/63/16x9/640.jpg)

------
Rainymood
I have little work experience (mostly academic), so bear with me. Maybe go to
the higher ups with this and tell them that you are willing to put the extra
hours in but expect to be compensated? Maybe they'll tell you to go for it
maybe they'll tell you to slow down for a while. Either way you get an answer
and some rational expectations about the future about your compensation and
appreciation as an employee.

Lots of negativity and hostility here to the OP btw. Op might do us well to
give us some more info (big corp or startup for example?)

------
aprdm
Glad it is a synthetic post. Some people really think like that though.

~~~
webmaven
Yup. I've encountered it before.

Side note: The attitude interacts oddly with such things as incentives and
nepotism (ie. the person working themselves to the bone is a relative of the
CEO and was given a lot more equity than their position or seniority merit,
but they don't get any of it because they burned themselves out before the
vesting cliff).

------
schwede
Some people just might have other things they care about more than work while
not at work.

------
ryanckulp
I'm in a similar position.

At best, you can get rid of the lazy colleagues.

At worst, you can take all the credit when something goes well.

Somewhere in the middle, you could pretend the colleagues don't exist, and run
the company more boldly.

But before any of that, ask yourself if you're doing all you can to motivate
them.

Do you...

* Celebrate colleagues when they have a 'win'?

* Have a genuine interest in your team members' welfare outside of work? (They'll know, it shows)

* Ask questions, have 1:1 meetings, to get inside their heads and learn what drives them?

Good luck (myself included).

