9 Tell-Tale Signs Your Coworker Isn’t Doing Any Work at All

In our modern workplace, some employees can slip under the radar, continuing to receive a paycheck without actually producing anything. 

Although some of these employees may appear productive, looking busy is entirely different from actually doing their job. In fact, they might be busy building up a side hustle to earn extra income instead of focusing on their day job.

This guide aims to shed light on your coworkers who may not be doing their share of work.

A calendar packed with meetings looks busy. After all, if their entire week is blocked into meetings, it seems like they've got a lot going on. And many may point out how they are always 'slammed' with meetings.

The catch is that you can't remember a single deliverable they completed last year. Pointless meetings might fill a calendar. But endlessly meeting about project ideas sometimes means the project never actually gets done.

If you're in a meeting with a group, sometimes the least productive employees speak the most. Although they are constantly spinning out big ideas, they rarely, if ever, follow through.

Not only do the big talkers skip the actual task, but they also dump the actual work on someone else's plate.

Everyone on a team has a job to do. But for those who don't plan on doing any work, delegation is their superpower. Although delegating some tasks can be a sign of a good leader, constantly offloading all tasks to other team members is a red flag.

These employees tend to reframe delegation as 'empowering others. But this usually means overloading junior employees with more work.

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When someone cannot describe their job without a barrage of buzzwords, it could mean they don't know their job. If they cannot name specific tasks or projects with even loosely defined deliverables, they may not be doing any work.

After all, it's sometimes tricky to nail down the tasks of a job unless you are actually doing them. In some cases, it's not their fault. They might have taken a job with good intentions to work hard. But if the organization doesn't assign them enough tasks to fill a day, some aren't going to point that detail out to their supervisor for fear of losing their income.

Constantly CC'ing everyone about every project gives the appearance of being looped in. Although they might send seemingly incessant emails to seem looped in, you might notice they don't actually contribute to the deliverables discussed in the emails.

The best way to spot an employee who doesn't work is to look for deliverables. If you don't see any completed tasks easily pointed out, it's possible they aren't doing the work.

When someone doesn't do their job, it's common for the incomplete tasks to pile up. The employee will often make one excuse after another. Even if their excuses seem valid, it can stretch on into a routine of simply not doing their work.

If something doesn't get done on time or at all, they are often quick to point out someone else's mistake. For example, they might claim they couldn't have completed the assigned task because so-and-so wasn't available to answer their last-minute questions.

A lazy coworker will rarely take full responsibility for their mistake.

When push comes to shove, they might accomplish a task. However, the final result is often only the bare minimum to satisfy the requirements.

For example, they might make a presentation that covers just a few key points of the project.

If you work in an office, it's often easy to spot who's working hard and who's hardly working. Employees constantly running late, taking long breaks, or missing entire days are likely not working too hard.

Judging who is doing what in a remote work setting is harder. But it takes days for someone to get back to you about every question; likely, they aren't working too hard.

It can be frustrating to watch your coworkers slack off, especially if it means more work gets added to your plate. While challenging, it might be time to consider other employment options.

For example, you might try some of the best side hustles to boost your income and savings to give you some cushion as you seek a new job.