PDR review at work. Lazy line manager

[Magic_x_uk]

Have a personal development review coming up at work soon. My line manager who is shall we say, gets away with a lot as he is a bit friendly with his line manager.

Examples are.

Manages to accrue a lot of lieu hours yet doesn't appear to be here much.

Vanishes when at work to other areas. Or taking many personal phone calls on his mobile outside away from ear shot.

Covers his shift a lot so he doesn't have to do a great deal.

I have members of staff moaning to me about this unfairness.

Do I leave it. Do I say something.

Any sensible views would be nice to read. Don't really want to upset the apple cart. But I do understand other members of staff concerns when they work hard day in day out and others seem to get away with doing much less

Thanks

 

[Rroff]

Assuming you are more senior to him - start with soft approach few nudges to see if he'll put a bit more effort in of his own accord given a bit of a hint that he is pushing it a bit too far, see if there are any aspects of the job he is struggling with or needs help. Then gather facts incase further action needs taking.


EDIT: While not necessarily an approach I'd advocate partly because my old boss lacked the shrewdness to know which people needed a little encouragement and which needed a boot up the behind but my previous boss had an interesting technique of when he thought people weren't pulling their weight of setting them goals well outside their comfort zone at performance reviews - sometimes making them take up a little responsibility in an area that was completely different to their role - while the manner in which he did it got a lot of people's backs up it did result in people tending to work a bit harder and some unexpected results with people who suddenly realised they were capable of a lot more than they had ever believed.

 

[SPG]

People should worry about there own work, not what someone else does or gets away with. This is not 1952 anymore.

 

[AHarvey]

People should worry about there own work, not what someone else does or gets away with. This is not 1952 anymore.

What a stupid thing to say!

If one person is slacking others have to work harder to cover that slack. Any decent leader should be picking this up and sorting it out because it does demoralise the rest of the staff.

OP, it sounds like he's above you and friendly with the guy above him so you'd have to jump up at least 2 levels to bring it to anyone's attention, and unfortunately, a lot of businesses are boy's clubs, they all look out for each other.

Unless your PDR is with HR directly or a top manager you may as well be peeing into the wind, but I would imagine it's with your line manager. Telling him it's upsetting people that he's a lazy **** might not go down too well. If you really wanted to make a point, email the boss at the top and let it filter down.

 

[Slam62]

People should worry about there own work, not what someone else does or gets away with. This is not 1952 anymore.

I agree, if you don't like it go and get another job.

People compare themselves to others too much.

 

[Energize]

People should worry about there own work, not what someone else does or gets away with. This is not 1952 anymore.

Agreed, it's the businesses problem at the end of the day, no sense it sticking your neck out if something doesn't directly affect you.

 

[TS7]

If you're more senior than him and his line manager then it's your place to bring it up.

If you're on equal pegging to his line manager then discuss this with his line manager stating you have many disgruntled employees unhappy about X Y and Z as it is impacting on their workloads etc.

But if neither of the above apply, then you're kind of just asking to get in a spot of bother with no benefit to yourself; especially as he is friendly with his line manager. That kind of dynamic just ends badly if you're below them.

 

[Rroff]

People should worry about there own work, not what someone else does or gets away with. This is not 1952 anymore.

Hah there are many sides to that story - I used to work with someone who'd be straight to the boss if anyone was like a minute over their break time, if someone went to the toilet they'd time them and then take exactly the same amount of time to go themselves, etc. (I kid you not) and so on and didn't seem to comprehend that no one gave a ****.

Personally I think there is a reasonable level and then there is taking the mick - if people are spending 20 minutes chatting inanely when their is work to be done or always off on their phone then I don't have a very high opinion of them - personally I pride myself on if I'm going to do a job atleast doing the basics to a reasonable standard on the other hand if someone is taking a few minutes on their phone, etc. when its quiet I don't see what the problem is.

Had an interesting one in my last job where people were getting worked up because one of the top managers was taking personal calls, etc. for 20-30 minutes of the day - but I was of the opinion that the person in question took a lot of work home with them, etc. often had to do business outside of normal hours, etc. so it all balanced out but they couldn't seem to see that.

 

[TS7]

Hah there are many sides to that story - I used to work with someone who'd be straight to the boss if anyone was like a minute over their break time, if someone went to the toilet they'd time them and then take exactly the same amount of time to go themselves, etc. (I kid you not) and so on and didn't seem to comprehend that no one gave a ****.

WHAT?! Wow - did they have other issues? That is pettiness to the extreme.

 

[Rroff]

WHAT?! Wow - did they have other issues? That is pettiness to the extreme.

Thought I'd mentioned it here before but can't find a post from a quick search - they were a bit of a nightmare - slightly adjusting details to keep it concise but we worked for a bit from adjacent desks - they would spread their work all over onto mine quite inconsiderately - especially as I kept mine organised and a polite word did nothing. Discovered one day the desks were height adjustable so I put mine up one notch so they couldn't just push stuff out onto mine - after awhile she started putting her desk upto the same level - after which I just said blow it and started binning any paperwork that wasn't mine which did stop it quite quickly