Is My Coworker Two-Timing Us?
Jan. 27th, 2025 01:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerRemote work has been topical recently with RTO (return to office) mandates in the news again, particularly President Trump's executive order last mandating 100% RTO for all US government employees. One of the concerns repeatedly mentioned by RTO proponents, though not supported by any of the evidence available, is that remote work leads to widespread loss of productivity. There's this hostile notion that people working remotely are routinely slacking off to watch TV, go sightseeing, visit the beach, etc. all day instead of working. Sure, anyone who's been around workplaces allowing remote work is likely familiar with a case of someone abusing the system. But comprehensive studies show this is the exception, not the rule. Alas, I'm concerned there's one of these exceptions among my colleagues. In fact it's so severe I wonder if this colleague is two-timing us— working two full-time jobs remotely and giving each one only half his attention.
I'm suspicious my coworker, "Ken", is two-timing us because his response times on requests are routinely long. I message him with a pertinent, timely query and he answers 4 hours later... or the next day... or not at all. Often I have to poke him a second or third time to get a response. Just today I've had to poke him for the second and third time on a request he ignored last week. ...A request about a situation that is reaching crisis state with a customer now because I've been unable to address it meaningfully without his coordination. And also today he's skipped two meetings with another customer he was supposed to attend with me.
I get it that people can be busy and my concerns may not be high priority for them. But Ken is not busy. At least he does not look busy. His calendar shows very few activities this week. And his results, in sales, are mediocre at best— so it's pretty clear that he's not doing high-value tasks in lieu of responding to me. And again, while he's ghosting me today, this is not only a "today" issue. Ken is almost always slow to respond... and I am not the only one who's noticed. I've discussed the issue with my managers, who've said they've experienced it first-hand, as well, and they've supposedly discussed it with other managers already.
I'm suspicious my coworker, "Ken", is two-timing us because his response times on requests are routinely long. I message him with a pertinent, timely query and he answers 4 hours later... or the next day... or not at all. Often I have to poke him a second or third time to get a response. Just today I've had to poke him for the second and third time on a request he ignored last week. ...A request about a situation that is reaching crisis state with a customer now because I've been unable to address it meaningfully without his coordination. And also today he's skipped two meetings with another customer he was supposed to attend with me.
I get it that people can be busy and my concerns may not be high priority for them. But Ken is not busy. At least he does not look busy. His calendar shows very few activities this week. And his results, in sales, are mediocre at best— so it's pretty clear that he's not doing high-value tasks in lieu of responding to me. And again, while he's ghosting me today, this is not only a "today" issue. Ken is almost always slow to respond... and I am not the only one who's noticed. I've discussed the issue with my managers, who've said they've experienced it first-hand, as well, and they've supposedly discussed it with other managers already.
