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[quote=Anonymous]I work on a team that's culturally diverse. Two people are from the US and three people are from countries besides the US. We all have equal titles and job responsibilities. Two of us are in our 30s, one is in their 50s and the other two are in their 60s. We usually all work together pretty well, but there are some circumstances where coworker in their 50s tells the two of us in our 30s to "respect our elders".  This co-worker is the lowest performing member of our team and we often have to pick up the slack for them. They have a hard time learning how to do things in new ways, and many times we end up doing our own work and then helping them with theirs so our collective work doesn't get dinged. Our supervisor is aware and doesn't really seem to care as long as the work gets done.

The "respect your elders" comments are usually in relation to things like when we delegate tasks. Some tasks are more preferable than others, and sometimes we get reminders by this co-worker to "respect our elders", which means that they think that the older two team members should get the preferable (easier) tasks.

It also happens when we have to do things like buy group gifts for showers etc. When we discuss as a team, this co-worker feels like the two younger people on the team should run the errands to buy the gifts.

Most recently it happened when we were moving files around and this co-worker wanted the newest file cabinets for their files and the files of our co-workers in their 60s.

I understand that it is very important to respect elders in this person's culture, and I appreciate that when it comes to family and community. But I don't feel like it has a place in the workplace, especially since this person has no authority over us.

I really don't know how to handle this because I don't want to offend them but I also don't want to keep letting this person get away with this in the name of cultural sensitivity.

Any ideas?[/quote]

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