On the Job

Dealing with the obnoxious person in the next office is an age-old problem, but is there an official solution?

Q I am a federal government employee with a problematic co-worker. This co-worker, more senior than I, complains a lot, is temperamental, talks loudly, is rude, does little work that I can tell, and sleeps at his desk. This person's obnoxious and sarcastic voice . . . carries easily between the common wall of our office spaces. Everything changes when the boss comes by, and he becomes nicer than usual. Do I have any official government recourse and should I take it? I feel like I am being forced to leave . . . but don't know if leaving should be the first solution or the last.

ABoth the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees federal government workplace polices, and a private workplace consultant, Steven M. Darien, chairman and chief executive of Cabot Advisory Group in Bedminster, N.J., said this worker ought to voice his complaints.

An OPM spokesman said this is "a clear-cut case in which the person's front-line supervisor needs to get involved. It sounds like this has caused lost productivity for the individual. The manager is probably aware of this, but maybe not totally."

The OPM spokesman suggested that the employee might want to see if other co-workers have noticed the misbehavior and enlist their support in jointly talking to the co-worker's manager.

Similarly, Darien said most companies have a dispute-resolution procedure in their human resources department through which aggrieved employees ought to first take their complaints about co-workers.

"Ultimately, you'd have to confront the co-worker," Darien said. "You can't have HR running around making accusations."

Asking others to join in a common complaint "lessens the pressure" on the original person and "lends more credence to the charges. Then it would be up to the supervisor to decide what to do."

-- Kenneth Bredemeier

E-mail your workplace questions to Kenneth Bredemeier at bredemeier@washpost.com. Discuss workplace issues with him at 11 a.m. Wednesday at www.washingtonpost.com/liveonline.