Coworker PTO
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
Scenario: Accounting Dept. mid-size Company. Business hours 8am-5pm.
Me: Mom to two teenage kids. Coworker: Mom to a Kindergarten We have been working together for two years. I'm senior to her just because I've been with the company for many years. When her kid was in Daycare, coworker was occasionally out for doctor's app., child sickness or vacation. Basic PTO. When she's out I have to cover for her due to the deadlines in her duties, however, she does NOT cover for me if I'm out which normally is for Vacation time. Things have drastically changed since her kid has started Elementary school. She put her kid in before and after school care at first but dropped it due to the cost. Then got accepted in school's child care and dropped it as well. She instead requested to start her hours at 6:30am leave by 3pm to be able to pick her kid up from school. It was approved. She's also taking days off when school is out/holiday. For example she's leaving early on Friday (school early release) and will be out one day next week (School holiday), for Election day, her husband will take the day off. Normally this is NONE of my business but, again, when she's out I have to cover her duties. When my kids were young I was a SAHM and when they started school I worked PT. Now that they are older I'm back to working full time. I didn't burden my job or my coworkers to deal with my daycare issues... I'm looking at the school's calendar I see many more holidays and early release days ahead and I don't want to seem like I'm not a team player at work but think it's unfair I have to carry that burden. Both my dept. as well as my coworker seems comfortable with the arrangement, except me. Any ideas on how I could handle this situation? I'm starting to become resentful towards my coworker while she's all happy and giddy. |
Anonymous
| Do you not take vacations? Long weekends? Birthdays? Maybe the issue is not her, but YOU and your inability to enjoy and use your time off. |
Anonymous
| If she is using her leave, you just need to get over it. If it's affecting her performance, then you need to talk to her boss. |
Anonymous
Agree with this. Are you the only person who can cover her duties? Could you approach your boss with a proposal to share that burden? |
Anonymous
| Have a conversation with manager about how to manage your time when you are covering for her. Do not get into her child care situation. Do not criticize her. Focus on your job and how it's being affected. |
Anonymous
| A person is free to use their PTO as they see fit (as long as they aren't breaking company policy). Her PTO usage is not the problem. If you do not want to cover for her, then you need to talk to your boss and propose some alternative ways to handle her work when she's out. |
Anonymous
|
Does someone else cover for you when you take PTO?
If she is only off for a day, can some things be put off until she returns? The reality is that your company is happy with her so they gave her a flexible work arrangement (changed her hours). The fact that you didn’t work when your kids were young is irrelevant. Your issue should be with what you need to cover, not on the fact that she is taking school holidays off - she is entitled. |
Anonymous
| Unless she’s simply going AWOL she’s not doing anything wrong. You don’t get brownie points for not taking PTO. Aren’t you taking your time off? |
Anonymous
Why don’t you ask your boss why you have to cover your coworker’s duties but no one reciprocates for you? Do you just keep your head down and accept what you’re told? The squeaky wheel always gets the grease. |
Anonymous
| Do you really need to cover her duties from 3p-5p? Or when she's out for one day? I wonder if some of this is problems you're making for yourself. It's on her to get her work done for a deadline even with taking PTO. |
Anonymous
|
YTA
She's taking days off. Days off are part of her benefits package, as are your days off. She has shifted her schedule with the permission of her company. Her reasons for taking days off or shifting her schedule are NOT RELEVANT. It sounds that it's part of your job description to cover for her when she is out. If that's creating difficulties in managing your workflow, then you talk to your boss about that "When Larla is out, I take over XYZ tasks which is making it challenging to also complete Project A. How should I prioritize this work?" If there are tasks that used to be hers that need to be completed after 3pm, same thing "With Larla out at 3pm, there's no one to run the end of day TPS Report. I've been filling in, but it's meant slower progress on Project B. How should we handle this?" If you have time to do these tasks and you just don't like them, well, guess what, it's a job, that's why they pay you to be there. |
Anonymous
| Look parents are pissed about all the random days off too. I wish the schools cared. |
Anonymous
| So do you think she should just quit and be a SAHM mom like you were? Seems like you have it all figured out and she should be more like you. |
Anonymous
| Didn't you post this like a month ago? People told you to MYOB. |
Anonymous
No. Not really. OP's coworker is enjoying special consideration while OP covers. That's BS. If your manager doesn't say anything, it means he/she is just hiding from it and hoping it doesn't get called out or 100% clueless. Neither s a solution or OK. Running any size department, solo, for a third of a day, everyday, will absolutely place additional burden on OP. You're gonna tell me you've never been in a room where a manager walks in and assgns new crap? Guess who catches those new 'things' when the colleague is home playing with their kid? I've caught files that take 25 hours to close just because one morning I was puttng my lunch in the fridge at the same time my manager was. Lunatic thought it was friendly banter. Now I just avoid him as best I can. |