{"id":54685,"date":"2013-07-12T16:45:18","date_gmt":"2013-07-12T16:45:18","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2013-07-12T16:45:18","modified_gmt":"2013-07-12T16:45:18","slug":"5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways to Deal with a Lazy Co-worker"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"body\">\n<div>\n<p>Don&#39;t let a lazy co-worker trip up your progress at work. Get proactive and fix the problem at the source. Here are 5 pointers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Be clear about what&#39;s needed<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Before you approach your boss about the problem, make sure all expectations, deadlines, and goals, are public knowledge. Plan meetings with your co-workers to check up on each others&#39; progress along the way. When everyone is clear on what&#39;s required of them and by what date, no one has the easy out of saying they weren&#39;t clear on their work. Sometimes, a little clarity can fix the problem.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Communicate<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Don&#39;t let your co-worker buy any more time procrastinating than they already have. When you talk to them, approach the situation like a <a href=\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/are-you-odds-your-co-worker\">problem to be solved<\/a>. Entering the conversation with a pre-made story in your head is dangerous territory. Instead of performance-bashing, which will just put your co-worker on the defensive and prolong the issue, try to understand what&#39;s causing the problem. When you help each other, you make each others&#39; work stronger. Don&#39;t gossip or complain, it&#39;s <a href=\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/how-remain-professional-when-things-fizzle-co-worker\">unprofessional and wastes more time<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Use the opportunity to take initiative<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you&#39;re looking for a chance to prove you can handle responsibility, step in and take on a leadership role where your co-worker is falling short. Your efforts won&#39;t just put you in your boss and other co-workers&#39; good books, but you&#39;ll set an example for everyone. Co-workers working on a project together feed off each others&#39; energy. Einstein said setting an example is not the main means of influencing each other, it&#39;s the only means. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Get comfortable saying no<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At the end of the day, no one will benefit from you compromising the quality of your own work for someone else&#39;s. Be sure of yourself, and don&#39;t change your mind halfway through an explanation. Hear your co-worker out if theyre asking you to do something, but don&#39;t cave if you don&#39;t have time to help. Train your co-workers to treat you how you want to be treated.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Forget about &quot;fair&quot;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Worrying about what&#39;s fair and what&#39;s not, workload-wise is redundant. Appealing to &quot;not fair&quot; isn&#39;t going to bring about any changes. Instead, focus on what you can do to do your best work, and don&#39;t compare yourself, your work load to anyone else&#39;s. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to put a free loading co-worker in their place<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71546,"featured_media":74606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64613],"tags":[64928,69504,64677,77340,77339],"class_list":["post-54685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-relationships","tag-career","tag-halloween-2012","tag-relationships","tag-good-skin-diet","tag-eating-good-skin"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>5 Ways to Deal with a Lazy Co-worker - 29Secrets<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Don&#039;t let a lazy co-worker trip up your progress at work. Get proactive and fix the problem at the source, so you can get on with your work. Here are 5 pointers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Ways to Deal with a Lazy Co-worker - 29Secrets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Don&#039;t let a lazy co-worker trip up your progress at work. Get proactive and fix the problem at the source, so you can get on with your work. Here are 5 pointers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"29Secrets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/29Secrets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-12T16:45:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-content\/uploads\/coworkers.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kait Fowlie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@29secrets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@29secrets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kait Fowlie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kait Fowlie\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#\/schema\/person\/dcaa9e4c92e1451a0c9fb4c21ee0d905\"},\"headline\":\"5 Ways to Deal with a Lazy Co-worker\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-12T16:45:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/\"},\"wordCount\":417,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-content\/uploads\/coworkers.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"career\",\"co-workers\",\"Relationships\",\"trouble at work\",\"work place\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Relationships\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/\",\"name\":\"5 Ways to Deal with a Lazy Co-worker - 29Secrets\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-content\/uploads\/coworkers.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-12T16:45:18+00:00\",\"description\":\"Don't let a lazy co-worker trip up your progress at work. Get proactive and fix the problem at the source, so you can get on with your work. Here are 5 pointers.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-content\/uploads\/coworkers.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-content\/uploads\/coworkers.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":800},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"5 Ways to Deal with a Lazy Co-worker\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/\",\"name\":\"29Secrets\",\"description\":\"Dating Advice, Beauty Secrets and Fashion Trends\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Maple Media Ltd.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Logo.png\",\"width\":320,\"height\":134,\"caption\":\"Maple Media Ltd.\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/29Secrets\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/29secrets\",\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/29secrets\",\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/29secrets\",\"http:\/\/youtube.com\/29secretstv\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#\/schema\/person\/dcaa9e4c92e1451a0c9fb4c21ee0d905\",\"name\":\"Kait Fowlie\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73d5e9c889e5b1ea16240454e6189a9faece2d6eb1b17ba171cda0489597bbee?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73d5e9c889e5b1ea16240454e6189a9faece2d6eb1b17ba171cda0489597bbee?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kait Fowlie\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/author\/Kait-Fowlie\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 Ways to Deal with a Lazy Co-worker - 29Secrets","description":"Don't let a lazy co-worker trip up your progress at work. Get proactive and fix the problem at the source, so you can get on with your work. Here are 5 pointers.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 Ways to Deal with a Lazy Co-worker - 29Secrets","og_description":"Don't let a lazy co-worker trip up your progress at work. Get proactive and fix the problem at the source, so you can get on with your work. Here are 5 pointers.","og_url":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/","og_site_name":"29Secrets","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/29Secrets","article_published_time":"2013-07-12T16:45:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-content\/uploads\/coworkers.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kait Fowlie","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@29secrets","twitter_site":"@29secrets","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kait Fowlie","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/"},"author":{"name":"Kait Fowlie","@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#\/schema\/person\/dcaa9e4c92e1451a0c9fb4c21ee0d905"},"headline":"5 Ways to Deal with a Lazy Co-worker","datePublished":"2013-07-12T16:45:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/"},"wordCount":417,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-content\/uploads\/coworkers.jpg","keywords":["career","co-workers","Relationships","trouble at work","work place"],"articleSection":["Relationships"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/","url":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/","name":"5 Ways to Deal with a Lazy Co-worker - 29Secrets","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-content\/uploads\/coworkers.jpg","datePublished":"2013-07-12T16:45:18+00:00","description":"Don't let a lazy co-worker trip up your progress at work. Get proactive and fix the problem at the source, so you can get on with your work. Here are 5 pointers.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-content\/uploads\/coworkers.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-content\/uploads\/coworkers.jpg","width":600,"height":800},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/relationships\/5-ways-deal-lazy-co-worker\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"5 Ways to Deal with a Lazy Co-worker"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#website","url":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/","name":"29Secrets","description":"Dating Advice, Beauty Secrets and Fashion Trends","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#organization","name":"Maple Media Ltd.","url":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Logo.png","width":320,"height":134,"caption":"Maple Media Ltd."},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/29Secrets","https:\/\/x.com\/29secrets","http:\/\/instagram.com\/29secrets","http:\/\/pinterest.com\/29secrets","http:\/\/youtube.com\/29secretstv"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#\/schema\/person\/dcaa9e4c92e1451a0c9fb4c21ee0d905","name":"Kait Fowlie","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73d5e9c889e5b1ea16240454e6189a9faece2d6eb1b17ba171cda0489597bbee?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73d5e9c889e5b1ea16240454e6189a9faece2d6eb1b17ba171cda0489597bbee?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kait Fowlie"},"url":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/author\/Kait-Fowlie\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71546"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}