[UK] - How do I raise employee complaint without sounding like I’m just whinging?
A few years ago, a colleague was moved onto my team. At the time, I was told it was because there wasn’t much else for her to do. I later found out, informally, that the real reason was that other teams refused to work with her. She is meant to handle the operational side: scheduling, admin, paperwork, files, chasing actions, etc. In reality, a lot of it falls to me.
I build the schedules, then pass them to her so she can put them into “official” docs. I get chased by external people about unpaid invoices/paperwork she was meant to process. Urgent tasks sit for days with “it’s on my list”. Recent example: we needed her to send a simple but urgent document to an external company so a project could continue. A week later, it still hasn't been sent.
We’re also hiring someone who will report to me, but I wasn’t included in the initial planning call. When interviews were ready, she wanted to delay them because she prefers not to have meetings at that time, despite a tight start date and candidates having notice periods.
She also runs a side business, which often seems to spill into work time. Last year, she took two weeks of "medical leave" while posting pictures of herself in a jacuzzi drinking champagne, while the rest of us covered her work. I know health issues aren’t always visible, but it felt tone-deaf to post that knowing we'd all see it.
My manager tells me to be understanding because she may have ADHD. I’m fine with reasonable adjustments, but not with “adjustments” meaning I quietly absorb the core parts of someone else’s job. Because I’m described as reliable, everything defaults to me. The projects don’t fail, but only because I do 14 hour days to keep catching the gaps.
How do I raise this formally without it sounding like I’m just bitching about a colleague? Should I go to my manager first, or HR?