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Managing a lazy employee can be a huge source of frustration for a medical practice manager. It can also be baffling, especially when the manager is highly self-motivated and cannot relate to an employee's penchant for laziness. This article defines laziness and explores the most likely reasons behind an employee's lazy behavior. It suggests that medical practice managers look to their own management prior to taking disciplinary action against a lazy employee, and provides specific guidance. It then offers practice managers 10 strategies for dealing effectively with lazy employees and 15 do's and don'ts for them to share with employees who are dealing with a lazy coworker. This article also provides five suggestions for overcoming one's own temptation to be lazy and advice for instituting a mentorship program to bring lazy employees up to speed. Finally, this article explores whether laziness is an innate characteristic or learned behavior and suggests how managers can use this information in their approach to managing a lazy employee.
KEY WORDS: Lazy employee; lazy coworker; laziness; mentor; goals; warnings; documentation; firing.
Lackadaisical. Laggard. Asleep on the job. Shiftless. Loafer. Sluggard. Goof off. Slothful. Lethargic. Slouch. Slug. Couch potato. Slacker.
Have you ever noticed how many different ways we can describe a person who is lazy? Perhaps we have developed this extensive language of laziness because it is such a common and exasperating human characteristic. We've all witnessed laziness in others. Sometimes we have had to pick up the slack for lazy people who didn't do what they were supposed to do. Some of us have had to teach our children not to be lazy and have found the task to be hugely frustrating. And many of us have had to fight our own desire to be lazy, at least on some occasions. It's fair to say that most of us have had those days when we would rather be lounging on a beach or when we would rather sleep in than get up and get going on a busy work day.
That said, there is no room for laziness in the medical practice. Obvious problems occur when lazy employees drag their feet to get needed work done. The work will not be done well, on time, or at all,...