Work Colleagues; What do you do about...

Associate
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3 Dec 2008
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I work in MI too on HR/Payroll databases. And I work with a lot of technically handicapped people. Unfortunately the ability to work with numbers generally outweighs someones technical prowess, the guy's been working there 34 years and knows your company prodecures, policies and his job inside out. It may take him longer than you because you have the technical aptitude to apply, but so long as he gets the work done and doesn't breach KPIs/SLAs then he's doing his job fine, and from a management point of view he's probably more of an asset than you. I only say this because I am often in the same situation, being grouped with people on projects who couldn't copy and paste a file without the help of a talking paper clip. The fact is there's a lot more to working, even in a technical environment, than just your ability to use the tools at your disposal.
 
Associate
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I work in MI too on HR/Payroll databases. And I work with a lot of technically handicapped people. Unfortunately the ability to work with numbers generally outweighs someones technical prowess, the guy's been working there 34 years and knows your company prodecures, policies and his job inside out. It may take him longer than you because you have the technical aptitude to apply, but so long as he gets the work done and doesn't breach KPIs/SLAs then he's doing his job fine, and from a management point of view he's probably more of an asset than you. I only say this because I am often in the same situation, being grouped with people on projects who couldn't copy and paste a file without the help of a talking paper clip. The fact is there's a lot more to working, even in a technical environment, than just your ability to use the tools at your disposal.


His work is being done within SLA, but he's doing 40 times less than the person next to him.

Your argument has much merit but when the disparity is so large then it should be thrown out the window and someone should be investigating the lack of productivity.
 
Associate
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Technical prowess at something isn't the be all and end all.

He has been there for 34 years. If the **** hits the fan and something goes really badly wrong, who has the ability to sort it out? the experience? the knowledge of who to contact - who to speak to - what to do?

Now I don't know you or the 34 year guy from adam and whether or not the above applies to him I wouldn't know. However in a lot of cases experience counts and thats why they tend to keep the experienced people and pay them more.

If you spend your day festering and resenting the guy next to you, you're going to give yourself an ulcer and stress yourself out. If your boss is happy to have him around - fine, that is their problem not yours. If his work isn't interfering with your work, then again it isn't a problem. Concentrate on your job and doing it well. If you are that good look for promotion.
 
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Associate
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7 Jan 2005
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1,805
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London
Technical prowess at something isn't the be all and end all.

He has been there for 34 years. If the **** hits the fan and something goes really badly wrong, who has the ability to sort it out? the experience? the knowledge of who to contact - who to speak to - what to do?

Now I don't know you or the 34 year guy from adam and whether or not the above applies to him I wouldn't know. However in a lot of cases experience counts and thats why they tend to keep the experienced people and pay them more.

If you spend your day festering and resenting the guy next to you, you're going to give yourself an ulcer and stress yourself out. If your boss is happy to have him around - fine, that is their problem not yours. If his work isn't interfering with your work, then again it isn't a problem. Concentrate on your job and doing it well. If you are that good look for promotion.

But in this situation it appears his day job is to produce reports. 40 times slower than the guy sat next to him. Maybe he is being kept for his experience and institutional knowledge.

However that begs the question of why more of his knowledge isn't written down in case he leaves. Or why he isn't made to be more efficient. He could learn Excel and get stuff done at half the speed that the OP does, instead of 40 times slower.

The business would at least get a meaningful amount of work out of him for the 364 days a year when his institutional knowledge isn't required.
 
Associate
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He wont listen to me because he's been doing it for 34 years and im an "arrogant little sod".

Is the guy set in his ways like a doddering old man, or is he an unpleasant old sod?

Leave him alone, one day you might need his help.

I can't think of any nice way of ensuring that he is taught modern methods to do his work so perhaps this is best.
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Oct 2003
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Worthington-on-sea
Do you work with someone who is completely redundant?

One of my fellow management accountants; she only works part-time, supports HR & Safety, cannot do more than the basics in excel (no lookups, pivots, etc) and didn't log into the accounting system for so long that her access was withdrawn by central IT on the assumption that she'd left.

Chocolate fireguard, anyone?
 
Soldato
OP
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26 Feb 2007
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Leafy Cheshire
Is the guy set in his ways like a doddering old man, or is he an unpleasant old sod?

Nah he's just set in his ways. We do sometimes clash but for the most part he's a nice enough bloke, and i don't dislike him or want him fired or anything... it can just be frustrating that my work can get quite stressful due to deadlines when i know there's people around taking their sweet time with things :)

I guess i'm just an overly efficient person, and when the cogs aren't turning in time, it catches my attention. This is why i wanted to discuss it, and now i feel better, and can just let him get one with it :)
 
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