My Friend Supports Flexible Work, but She’s Exhausted From Covering the Gaps
By Real Ray C on
My friend works on a small office team where one coworker is allowed to leave early several days a week. She respects the arrangement and doesn’t feel entitled to know the personal reasons behind it.
The problem is that unfinished reports, client calls, and urgent emails are regularly left for her to handle. Last week, she missed one of her own deadlines because she spent most of the afternoon finishing work that was passed to her shortly before the coworker left.
This has been happening for months. There is no coverage plan, her workload has not been reduced, and management seems to assume she will continue handling everything because she has always been dependable.
She doesn’t want to blame her coworker for using an approved schedule. At the same time, she is exhausted and beginning to feel taken for granted.
Should she speak privately with the coworker first, or is workload distribution something she should take directly to the manager?