Coworker and time off (employer, job, company, hired)

[Indigo Cardinal]

OK, so for the background, my work department has everybody with a designated backup for when you on vacation, out sick, etc, and it's done in 'teams', for lack of a better word. For example, John and Jane are each other's backups--if John's out, Jane backs him up, if Jane's out, John backs her up.

And it's flexible, for the record--if John and Jane both needed to be out on, say, August 1st, and nobody else on our team did (there's eight of us), then Mary would be tasked to back up John, and Bob would back up Jane.

So I'm paired with Coworker X, and I've been noticing lately that whenever I have time off, he does a last minute request for time off so that he's either out the days before I am (mildly annoying), or he's off the day (and a few days after) I get back. (The latter is particularly aggravating, because not only am I catching up on my own work, but I'm doing his as well.) To add to the aggravation, X doesn't tend to provide a list of what projects might need special attention, or copy me on/forward me emails, so I'm going in blind on a lot of his stuff when he's out. (I've talked to him about this, but since he's done it again, I'm going to ask our manager to discuss this with him.)

I was beginning to wonder if it was just my perception, until this week. I'm leaving for a week-long vacation (starting this Friday), and all of a sudden, Coworker X told me he was taking *this* week off.....so the week leading up to my vacation, I am, again, backing him up. (Coworker Y will back him up Friday, since X and I will both be gone, and Coworker Z will back me up on Friday, with Coworker X taking over the following Monday.)

I had come into work yesterday, and Coworker Z said, "So X took this week off?" I confirmed it, and Z herself said, "Is it just my imagination, or does he always take time off right before or after you do?" Coworker Y said he'd been making the same observation. So it's not just me seeing this. Coworker Z also wondered how X (who has only been with the company for two years) has so much time to take off like this.

We had acknowledged that it's probably not something I can complain about--if X has the time off, then he's allowed to take it, but it is weird that he's always scheduling it last-minute around mine. (We have a shared calendar where we input our requested time off so everybody can see who's out when. I tend to plan my time off well in advance, this particular vacation has been on the calendar for six months.) Possibly I shouldn't let it bother me, but it's beginning to get pretty aggravating.

[WouldLoveTo]

I wonder if he's trying to "punish" you since he has to cover for you while you're gone. (if that's the case it's obviously working)

On the flip side he could somehow believe it's easier if you both take a block of time off and then are at work together to back each other up. (peoples minds sure are weird)

Do you get along with each other as coworkers otherwise?

I agree you can't talk to your employer about the timing but you should about his lack of documentation that affects you covering for him.

[Florida2014]

Sounds like it is on purpose for sure. Is there a way you can hide your vacation time from X until just right before you actually take the time off? Like tell your manager but don't put it onto a shared team calendar? So you'd essentially email him on Friday afternoon saying "Hey I have Monday thru Wednesday off next week, here is what you need to back me up on, have fun!"

[joe from dayton]

So, no one's work gets done, and you both play catch-up when you return?

[evening sun]

Why does your manager approve his leave a the same time as his teammate. If it's not against policy, then I guess he can do it. Not a very nice thing to do, though.

[clevergirl67]

This whole situation of backing up a specific coworker seems fraught with issues to begin with. In our team, everyone backs each other up. Two out of six can be gone at any one time without hurting our production. The vacations and days off are on the public schedule which we can see every morning and plan ahead. We all like each other, so we don't have a problem getting up to date with any special projects.

It sounds to me like this coworker either doesn't like you or doesn't appreciate the work he has to do in your absence and/or doesn't like to go behind you. Perhaps you should ask your boss to team up with someone different that you get along or work well with?

[tnff]

Sounds like he's trying to schedule things so that he ultimately doesn't have to back you up. You take a week off; he let's things slide for that week. Then you come back and have to do your normal work, plus the work he let slide, plus cover for him. Win for him.

I once worked a job like that, except it was a 24/7 rotating coverage. Our team always hated it when something came up at the end of our shift because, without fail, neither the follow-on team, nor the team that followed them, would get it done, so we'd come back 24 hours later with not only our regular shift duties, but the two follow on team's unfinished duties, plus anything else. Essentially, we'd get a full 32 hours of work for us to do in just two shifts (our normal work for two shifts + the two intervening shifts). Out of the other four teams that we cycled through with, we could only count on one to get things done and they counted on us. The other three just occupied seats.

[Pitt Chick]

Originally Posted by tnff

Sounds like he's trying to schedule things so that he ultimately doesn't have to back you up. You take a week off; he let's things slide for that week. Then you come back and have to do your normal work, plus the work he let slide, plus cover for him. Win for him.

Except he also takes time off BEFORE the OP.

Originally Posted by Indigo Cardinal

So I'm paired with Coworker X, and I've been noticing lately that whenever I have time off, he does a last minute request for time off so that he's either out the days before I am (mildly annoying), or he's off the day (and a few days after) I get back.

I was beginning to wonder if it was just my perception, until this week. I'm leaving for a week-long vacation (starting this Friday), and all of a sudden, Coworker X told me he was taking *this* week off.....so the week leading up to my vacation, I am, again, backing him up.

I had come into work yesterday, and Coworker Z said, "So X took this week off?" I confirmed it, and Z herself said, "Is it just my imagination, or does he always take time off right before or after you do?"

[Indigo Cardinal]

Originally Posted by clevergirl67

This whole situation of backing up a specific coworker seems fraught with issues to begin with. In our team, everyone backs each other up. Two out of six can be gone at any one time without hurting our production. The vacations and days off are on the public schedule which we can see every morning and plan ahead. We all like each other, so we don't have a problem getting up to date with any special projects.

Well, weirdly enough, the pairing up situation came about because of me, years ago. I'm not the one who implemented it, however. I came to this department when it was really new (it had been created just a few months before I was hired), and there'd only been one other person. As the demand for the product grew, so did the team. The person who was there before me took a promotion to another team, leaving me as the senior person, and everybody kept asking me to back them up when they were out. The manager at the time came up with the 'paired off' solution to keep all the requests for back up off of me. The new manager decided to keep it up for pretty much the same reason. Long story short, a lot of people both in and out of our department have a habit of coming to me with requests/questions because "Indigo knows everything". (I do not, BTW. I'm just willing to put in the effort to research something.) Both managers want the rest of the team to step up, instead of relying on me.

It sounds to me like this coworker either doesn't like you or doesn't appreciate the work he has to do in your absence and/or doesn't like to go behind you. Perhaps you should ask your boss to team up with someone different that you get along or work well with?

We actually get along really well, and to be fair, he does take care of most of my stuff when I'm gone. (Then again, I copy both him and our manager on my list of things that need taken care of, so she's aware of what I need looked at when I'm out.) So I'm puzzled by this behavior.

I did talk to my manager today about how, once again, he didn't leave any documentation for me to follow, and she said that she's going to talk to him about it. (She mentioned he's not the only one she needs to talk to about that, so maybe several people are just slacking off in that regard.) And then *she* mentioned she noticed what he's been doing with his vacation time in regards to mine. She did advise that he's not doing anything 'wrong', but she wants to have a chat with him and see what's going on with that when he gets back, because she's thinking it's a bit odd. She asked if we weren't getting along, I told her as far as I was aware, we were fine. She hadn't thought we had a problem either, but she wanted to make sure what she thought matched what I thought.

So now I'm curious as to what she finds out, and it'll be awhile before I know, if she decides to share that info with me.

[xray731]

Let us know how it works out. There always seems to be one like that in every workplace. Thankfully, he picks up the slack when you're away - in both my son's and my case - we ended up with more of a mess to clear up when we return from vacation as our cover only did their own work.