Is there anything more annoying at work than having to cover for a coworker who won’t do their job properly?

A lot of employers put a lot of emphasis on their employees being good team players, and that is often for good reason. It only takes one bad actor in an office for a workplace to be inundated with conflict and complaints. You may not want your coworkers to be your best friends, but it is important to feel like you can rely on them to do their jobs and that they are relatively pleasant to be around.

Some of the most frustrating colleagues are not the ones who are the most combative, but rather those who are checked out of their job and expect others to pick up the slack. Almost everyone has lazier or less productive days in the workplace, but this becomes a problem when it is a regular occurrence that directly affects other people. 

The likelihood is that a slacker coworker is not going to rectify their behavior just because it inconveniences others. It leaves their colleagues in an awkward position, where they don’t have the authority to get them working again, but they can’t work with them effectively as they are.