We’ve all experienced it: an annoying co-worker whose habits, voice, behavior or work ethic is like nails on a chalk board to us. Sometimes just the sight of that person causes our blood pressure to rise.
When employees are working eight hours or more a day in close quarters, it's only a matter of time before they will start to get on each other’s nerves. According to career coach, speaker and author Ford Myers, this problem is much more common than you might think.
Myers, author of "Get The Job You Want, Even When No One's Hiring," says, "It's hard to believe that some individuals can be so unaware of how their behaviors are affecting others in the workplace. Yet, we see these sorts of issues at almost every company.”
Annoying behavior, and the interoffice bickering it often creates, can be costly. If the annoying behavior doesn't stop, it definitely will decrease productivity in the workplace. If you are the one who’s being annoyed, you'll do just about anything to avoid the annoying person, which can keep important work from getting done. You'll be frustrated and grow more unhappy on the job, so you'll probably start arriving at work later and leaving earlier than usual, which also diminishes productivity.
If you are the supervisor or manager of co-workers who don’t get along, you understand the amount of time and energy it takes to referee these kinds of workplace issues.
If you are dealing with an annoying co-worker and can resolve the issue with that person within a reasonable period of time, your morale shouldn't be impacted too much. But if your complaints go unanswered, and nothing is done about the problem, you may become very disillusioned and demoralized. Nobody likes to be in a work situation where they don't feel management is addressing their complaints and concerns.
What You Can Do
Your best approach is to diplomatically let your colleague know that some of his or her actions are annoying you. Believe it or not, the person who is displaying this annoying behavior simply may not be aware of what they're doing. Once he or she hears your complaint, the offending habits simply may stop.
If trying to address the issues directly with the annoying co-worker doesn't work, take your concerns to management. At that point, it's really the responsibility of the department supervisor or a senior manager to the situation.
