Lazy, useless team members: What to do?

[CodeCobbler]

I hope I never have to work on one of your projects where you "expose" me. The d*ckhead behaviours that you are exhibiting are the reason I wont work in permie.

[Bumfluff]

I need advice from the seasoned hard-asses on this board.

Currently working as a team of 4 contractors, 3 of us are clearly experts in our field and spend all day in busy, in depth conversations and activities creating the solution. We lead meetings with the permies and are worth every penny. The fourth does bugger all, his minimal skills, has clearly BS'd his CV to get there, has produced one diagram in 6 weeks and could be replaced by a cardboard cutout without any impact to the project.

Do we:
a) Point out his uselessness to the Clientco and get rid of him?
b) Point out his uselessness to the Clientco and get rid of him and offer to do his work for an increase in our rate?
c) Leave it to the permies to work it out for themselves, if they ever do?
d) Live and let live, it's not our problem, although it is sort of because i have to do his work for him.

What's the best path in this situation oh wise ones?

And he is probably on a better rate than you as well.

[MarillionFan]

No-one likes a grass.

[cojak]

I hope I never have to work on one of your projects where you "expose" me. The d*ckhead behaviours that you are exhibiting are the reason I wont work in permie.

The OP didn't 'expose' anyone.

He merely observed from the sidelines.

But don't think that you're immune from it - if you don't do your job and it impacts the boss, your feet won't touch the ground as they boot you out the door.

[SimonMac]

I think it's a case of Keep Calm and Invoice On as long as it doesn't impact your deliverable, if so raise it as a risk and let ClientCo handle it themselves, as I have yet to see a bad contractor not come undone in the end.

[BolshieBastard]

Think the OP is displaying permie traits here, effectively wanting to grass up another contractor. Imo, it's up to the manager to make sure all contractors (and permies) are producing to the required standards.

I was at a multi national bank a few years back and it was clear to everyone, one contractor was taking the piss (and you took it big time, didnt you Mike?). He wasnt doing the hours then was allowed to work from home one day a week but he somehow managed to turn this around to being in the office one day a week. He then started coming in on that one day for about 3 hours before going home saying he'd finish work at home!

Although we were all pissed off with his actions nothing was done and eventually one contractor raised it. The manager by this time was a contractor himself and said he'd noted the lack of quality work compared to the rest of the team so he mentioned it to the permies that he didnt want this one contractor on the team because everyone else was producing but he wasnt.

So, he was allocated other work and taken off our team. About a week later he had his laptop withdrawn. They didnt bin him off but didnt renew him when his contract ended. When the client recruited again, all other teams were taken back on but he wasnt. He couldnt understand why we'd all been taken back on but he hadnt!

TBH, I was a bit uneasy with the contractor who did complain about the lazy contractor. One, because imo, the managers should have picked this up and done something about it but two, the contractor who did complain could quite easily have targetted other contractors about other issues for all I know.

So, if you want to go down the avenue of grassing or reporting other contractors, dont be surprised if you find one day someone returns the favour.

[CodeCobbler]

The OP didn't 'expose' anyone.

He merely observed from the sidelines.

But don't think that you're immune from it - if you don't do your job and it impacts the boss, your feet won't touch the ground as they boot you out the door.

I guess your right that its always going to be there, I would say contractors are more likely to get blame when things go wrong.

[tractor]

...

I need advice from the seasoned hard-asses on this board.

Currently working as a team of 4 contractors, 3 of us are clearly experts in our field and spend all day in busy, in depth conversations and activities creating the solution. We lead meetings with the permies and are worth every penny. The fourth does bugger all, his minimal skills, has clearly BS'd his CV to get there, has produced one diagram in 6 weeks and could be replaced by a cardboard cutout without any impact to the project.

Do we:
a) Point out his uselessness to the Clientco and get rid of him?
b) Point out his uselessness to the Clientco and get rid of him and offer to do his work for an increase in our rate?
c) Leave it to the permies to work it out for themselves, if they ever do?
d) Live and let live, it's not our problem, although it is sort of because i have to do his work for him.

What's the best path in this situation oh wise ones?

I have highlighted the part that I don't understand. How does that come about?

a. Are you invoicing extra hours?
b. Does your own week have enough slack built in to accomodate this?
c. Are you doing this for free?

If it's a then kudos to you but why do you want to upset the apple cart? If it's b then you are clearly overcharging again kudos. If it's c then you are a mug. Stop doing it, when you are asked for the product, look squarely and quizzically at the guy who is supposed to be producing.

Alternatively, all this is management's responsibility to recognise and deal with. Not your's.

[Mupps]

Don't encourage the slackers and time wasters, it lowers the standards of the industry and reflects badly on everyone directly.
I don't tolerate slackers or incompetents on my teams and appreciate others that don't.
At the end of the day, we are only as good as the team as a whole, if some of you are willing to be second rate then so be it, but the rest of us have more pride in our work and value our worth to the clients.
That worth is reflected in the rates we charge or the Salaries we earn, and in our professional reputaions within the industry.

I agree with this.

I've invested a lot of time, money and effort in being highly skilled and highly capable. I have high standards and feel that we should earn our high pay. I have a very low tolerance of uselessness in any area of life, let alone when someone is sat on [a good rate] doing sod all.



But also I agree with all who say : "leave it alone it's not my problem". Ultimately i wouldn't take any steps to grass this guy up as it's not in my nature. But this forum is a great sounding board and it's an interesting problem to share opinions on.

so thanks everyone, I'll leave it run its natural course...

[Diver]

The OP didn't 'expose' anyone.

He merely observed from the sidelines.

But don't think that you're immune from it - if you don't do your job and it impacts the boss, your feet won't touch the ground as they boot you out the door.

WSS

Being in project management I sometimes have the unpleasant duty of dismissing people who aren't quite up to scratch if they are impacting the team, and the pleasant task of kicking out the freeloaders.