Is it ever OK to complain about a coworker?

[Anonymous]

In a nutshell, a coworker and I don't see eye to eye. We report to the same person; coworker is in her 50s and I'm in my mid-30s. There have been many instances of her making a mistake, and when I point it out to her, I'm ignored and the mistake continues. (and these are mistakes in the magnitude of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars. Not trifling little errors.)

My tactics thus far have been emailing her documents with issues highlighted, following up in person, asking if there's a better way to get info to her, following up again via email & in person, etc. She only replies if the boss is cc'd. This holds up work (and frankly it annoys the hell out of me, but I'll try to keep emotions out of it). Awhile back she refused to do something time critical and I went to the boss, who basically told coworker to buck up and do the work. Since then coworker has really refused to work with me, to the point that someone else in our department took me aside and said he was shocked at how CW treated me during an informal meeting.

I have no desire to make friends with this woman, but we do have interrelated work. What do I do?

[Anonymous]

Bring it up with your boss. I get along with a wide-range of people, but when someone influences my ability to get a job done or significantly impacts my morale, I tell my boss. I don't make a big deal about it...it's more of "for your awareness", and usually the boss is proficient enough in personnel matters to make an improvement.

[Anonymous]

Bring it up with her. "Jane, it seems like our communication has broken down over the summer, and I'd like to work with you to get it back on track. It will make BOTH of us look good if we can sort this out and produce high quality work product."

Is she overwhelmed? Is that why she's making mistakes? Does she have a health problem? I would frame it as what can YOU do to HELP HER so you BOTH look good to the higher-ups.

[Anonymous]

Why do you need to point out mistakes to her?

[Anonymous]

When it involves my performance...yep

[Anonymous]

Let me guess...are you a relatively new hire whereas she's been there for years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let me guess...are you a relatively new hire whereas she's been there for years?

Actually I've been there a few years longer. I think she is overwhelmed but would never admit it or ask for help, hence mistakes. I'm not aware of health problems. It's usually her mistakes, but people she supervises also do shoddy work, which I stumble across on the course of my work. To me this means she is not reviewing her own work well, nor the work of her direct reports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you need to point out mistakes to her?

Not OP, but there are plenty of work environments where you should point out colleagues mistakes, especially if they impact the quality of the work, which it sounds like they do. Not sure why that is hard to imagine.

[Anonymous]

Ask the boss for suggestions about how to handle the situation. So you're not just "tattling" but looking for mentorship and constructive guidance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do you need to point out mistakes to her?

Not OP, but there are plenty of work environments where you should point out colleagues mistakes, especially if they impact the quality of the work, which it sounds like they do. Not sure why that is hard to imagine.

I guess so. I'm an attorney, and unless my colleagues ask to workshop their cases, I don't think I would dream of pointing out their "mistakes" to them. Everyone handles a case differently. Everyone spots different issues in a case. Rarely is there an issue of malpractice or malfeasance. "Hey Fred, don't you think you should have filed a motion for summary judgment?"

I have worked with one colleague who loves to sort of "save the day" by pointing out how her role or addition on a case found some sort of last minute critical issues that no one else saw or discerned and alerted the client to her great save. We all sort of roll our eyes. I would be very interested to hear what OP is actually pointing out in terms of mistakes here. Is there really added value? Or is she doing some intensive nitpicking and/or second-guessing? What in fact is being accomplished?

[Anonymous]

You are not her boss. It's also clear that she doesn't like you and won't accept your help, or that she isn't a team player. So your communication goes to your boss, or you cc interactions related to work effectiveness to your boss.

[Anonymous]

No, unless it affects your work directly, you will come off as a snitch.

If her work is poor, it will be figured out eventually. It's not your job to monitor your coworkers' work.