NYT Magazine | What Can I Do When a Colleague Takes Credit for My Work?

2019年8月3日星期六

NYT Magazine | What Can I Do When a Colleague Takes Credit for My Work?

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Saturday, August 3, 2019

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The Ethicist

What Can I Do When a Colleague Takes Credit for My Work?

Illustration by Tomi Um

The magazine's Ethicist columnist on whether to rat out a colleague who makes up for their lack of competence by using you as a crutch.

"I work at a small nonprofit as the assistant to the executive director. Very shortly after I was hired, a new writer was also hired. Let's call her Carrie. Carrie did not have experience in writing the particular kinds of proposals our nonprofit requires, but the executive director thought she was a good fit for the position. There was a rough start to her tenure, as a lot of deadlines came up quickly and she was doing a lot of things last minute. Her writing was not the best during this period, but both the director and I chalked it up to her rush in trying to hit the deadlines.

Recently, she turned a project over to the director in order to be reviewed. She had plenty of time to work on it, but still struggled immensely; she had to work closely with the director rewriting it. After that, the director told me she was unsure of how to help Carrie polish the work by the time it got to her to review, and that she was frustrated by Carrie's performance.

In order to save the director some time, I thoroughly proofread the next project and gave Carrie many suggestions and notes, which she implemented before the draft was ready to be reviewed by the director. The director has since read it and praised Carrie for how much she improved.

As my office is just outside of Carrie's, I heard their conversation, and she did not mention that I had contributed at all. I'm not necessarily in need of praise and admiration for helping the specialist, but I am frustrated because I know Carrie's salary is substantially higher than mine and I feel as if I am more capable of doing her job than she is. However, I am hesitant to go to my boss and tell her any of my concerns because it may reflect poorly on me.

My boss is also not afraid of firing people who are unable to do their job to her satisfaction, and I don't want Carrie to be fired. I really like her as a person; I just feel like her abilities do not measure up to the requirements of the position. What should I do?"

Read the Ethicist's reply here.

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