As some of you know, I've recently started my first post-college job. It's not as if I've never worked, but my previous work situation was very different from this one and so I find myself quite inexperienced in some situations. This is one of them. A guy I work with is slacking off at work. Big time. One of the supervisors has noticed it but she hasn't done much about it. The other supervisor is...ahem...his mother.
Now, I wouldn't care much - he can hang himself if he wants - except that it's starting to affect me. Clients notice - one actually said, "Oh, I'm so glad it's you, I don't want to deal with [name withheld]." And I don't have time to do all the work he isn't doing, which means I also get in trouble when it isn't done, because we hold the same position and are responsible for the same body of work. Additionally, he is personally somewhat a pig (no offense to that honorable species). Another girl quit about two months ago, just when I started working, and apparently not long before she did, he told her he could get her fired if he wanted (presumably because his mother is a supervisor).
What do I do? I could confront him personally, but I'm the newbie here, and I wouldn't put it past him to make life very difficult for me (he's already shown himself capable of this). I don't think I want to complain to the supervisor (either his mother or the other one who isn't showing any action at all). I feel very stuck.

Well something has to be done. If you don't do anything about it, you're gonna be screwed in the ending anyways, right? How long can you be getting in trouble for his slacking before you get let go (without the help of his mommmy)?

I say, talk to the supervisor that is not his mom. She already knows how much of a bum he is and she will be able to sympathize with you and stick up for you if a problem arises. I wouldn't bother talking to the pig, as that might do you more harm than good.

Best of luck with this crappy situation.

There's no foolproof way of handling this. Still, if that one supervisor has noticed a problem you may have some luck with her. Not complaining, just expressing a concern.

Have the clients mentioned their displeasure with Mr. Do-Nothing? Or better yet, their satisfaction with you? That could really help...

The only other option I can think of for your situation is to keep track of what needs to be done and what you have done. If you've completed 60% of the required work for a two person job, no sane person could hold you accountable for what isn't finished. The problem with that idea is that, in a way, you'd be using this info to prove your superior wrong. If s/he can't handle that, s/he will find a way to be right (about you being a bad employee) at a later time. Maybe make that a last resort.

I hope it works out well for you!

tracking your work is always a great idea--your daily tasks, what you accomplish, who you work with, how long it takes. My husband has to do this for his work, anyway, and it's good exercise. it also shows progress and you can see how you're doing.

i also recommend talking to the one supervisor about your concerns and your (potential) plans to track your work to demonstrate what you are doing and how. ask this person for advice on how to handle the other coworker in the most effective way to get him to work when you need it. For example, if you need him to pick up a little work for you (when his lack of work directly affects your clients), then you know how to approach him and ask for it specifically.

an example from my own work (once) is as follows. I was working on an environmental clean water act case with a coworker who was also working on another case. I was working on 6 cases at the time, she was working on two others, and our combined project was her 3rd and my 7th. i'm a quick and efficient worker. I find that most people complain and stress about work more than they do it.

Because we had to track the work we did by every six minutes (for billing purposes), i was very specific in the work that i did every 6 minutes. Most people are general such as "wrote memo for 202 C case" whereas i would write: researched 202 C and related casework; drafted 2nd draft of memo consisting of 10,000 characters of writing; talked to client X about A, B, and C elements and incorporated that into the file via memo # 12345. This way, i could easily track the volumn of the work i did on the project.

When it came time for us to present to the client, i'd done about 90% of the work, but i also had an ethics project due for class ( a mid-semester project is rare). So, i asked her to finish up that last 10%. When she complained and balked, i called a meeting with my manager to talk abuot the situation. I showed him my daily work logs, and he noted that i was working 7 cases, a full school load, and teaching yoga part time, while the other student was working 3 cases (including our shared) while going to school full time but not working a part time job. He then went to her to ask her if and why she was having productivity problems, when i was able to manage more cases. He then assigned the last 10% to her specifically. I felt that this was probably more appropriate than me asking.

But, keeping a record *really* helps--not only for yourself, but for supervisors and clients. THis way, you can say to the supervisors and/or clients "iv'e done the following thigns for you in this regard. UNless X gets involved, we may have to move the deadline a day or two." it's about being practical and communicative--which is good business sense. If X doesn't get involved, then the company can't really blame you.

Good luck with it; nepotism is a sticky situation.

Is there something you're getting out of this particular job for this particular company that you can't get elsewhere? If your answer to that question is no, is there some reason you can't simply quit? I'm not suggesting you storm out in a huff, but you might start sending out resumes and "tread water" with your current employer until you find something else.

The situation as you describe it really sounds like a lose-lose situation for you. You don't say how long your coworker has been with the company, but I doubt his slacking off is a new behavior. After all, why work hard when mommy's got your back? :D

Tracking your work sounds like a good idea, but I've found (from personal experience) that it doesn't really matter unless you work with reasonable people - and your supervisors wouldn't be keeping this slacker around if they were reasonable! Showing your supervisor a detailed log of your work might lead to your supervisor to suggest that you should be doing your job, instead of logging it. This is especially true if your supervisors are trying to deny a problem exists.