Incompetent work colleague on higher salary than me

ZeroThreat · 18-06-2024 04:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122274267#Comment_122274267

Well I'm glad they gave you some sort of reasonable raise at least. They don't seem to be quite the Mr. Burns dinosaur monolithic management types like some offering opinions here ….

'If you came to me with that attitude I'd tell you that it was none of your business and if you did not like your salary there's the door…. and your next move would be????'😉

Wanderer2010 · 18-06-2024 07:57PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122273508#Comment_122273508

This post should be automatically stickied and pop up anytime someone has an issue in the workplace that is causing them distress. I'm absolutely gobsmacked by the enormous amount of posters on Boards who act as if your job should be your entire life and that you should be loyal, committed, willing to work unpaid hours and turn into a slave just to have a different title and perhaps a few more thousand euros. Never mind that you are just a number in every single job on the planet. Easily replaceable and forgotten in mere days. Not to mention that the entire corporate game is rigged in their favour: work long hours, clean up after everyone else with the dangling carrot of a future promotion. Get the promotion: even longer hours, zero time with your family or to recharge the batteries, with the same carrot of another future promotion!

But so many people here just don't get it. It's frightening how many posters resort to the whole oh no wonder companies won't invest in Ireland, oh you need to come in early to show commitment, serve your great leader and such platitudes. There are a huge number of people in this country who would happily cut all employment laws and unions just so they could "get more out of" workers. Happily let people work 14 hour days, give them 5 minutes breaks etc. These people are all over this forum. They live as if we are in 19th century industries. Sad and pitiful people. A job is just money so you can live your life outside of the job and pay the bills. Just a number as I said. And for anyone who thinks you are oh so important and the company couldn't do without you...head to your nearest graveyard and see all those "irreplaceable " workers!!!

lukin · 24-09-2024 08:40PM

I am going back to this thread again because I got hold of the guy's CV and it is very impressive; he has a lot of experience, much more than me so I can now see why he asked for the salary he is getting. His level of experience warrants it you could say. But his level of ability certainly does not. I got my raise and I am grateful and happy though.

If I had seen his CV at the same time as I saw what he was earning I would not have posted this thread. I might not even have asked my boss for a raise. He showed himself to be so incompetent while I was training him that I said to myself "There's no way he could be more experienced than me". I assumed he had less experience and that's why I was so p####d he was getting more than me. But it turns out he is more experienced than me. Looking at his CV it is amazing to me that he knows so little about the skills required for this job.

I don't want to give too much away because I don't know who is reading this but some of the things I had to show him how to do I was almost embarrassed to because it was basic baby-infants stuff. I trained him to do one particular task and I explained it to him in great detail and gave him an example of it for when he had to do it himself. A few weeks later he had to do it himself and I found out that he went to a colleague of mine and more or less got him to do it for him.

He didn't tell his manager this (who is also my manager) and took credit for it himself. I could have grassed him up to my manager because I was a bit annoyed that I went to so much trouble to explain it to him and then he couldn't do it himself.

I'd say he just didn't understand how to do it even when it was explained to him. I was able to learn the same task by myself when I started. He is also ducking other tasks that I think he has no clue how to do either.

Look, I am not bitter, just surprised that someone with such a bulky CV can be so clueless. Maybe some of his CV is made up, I dunno.

Jim2007 · 25-09-2024 08:31AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122650943#Comment_122650943

Just report your original post and ask for the thread to be deleted.

...Ghost... · 27-10-2024 03:01PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122650943#Comment_122650943

Look, I am not bitter, just surprised that someone with such a bulky CV can be so clueless. Maybe some of his CV is made up, I dunno.

It certainly comes across that you are bitter, but less so since his salary resulted in you getting your 10% raise, so you should be thankful.

I completely understand your frustrations though. I also have a work colleague who works on my team and who is known to be incompetent by practically the whole office and he earns more than me by about 10% even though he can only do about 10% of what I do…and that is not an exaggeration. Basic stuff I still have to show him and we do have to check his work most times because often it's not done properly, or at all.

It bothered me for a while, but then I reminded myself that his salary is his and mine is mine. No point getting angry about management decisions on salaries that don't impact on me negatively. If anything, it's an opening to get a bigger raise, knowing the floor is more open.

lukin · 13-08-2025 01:29PM

I have an update on this; the guy is being moved on; my manager informed me. Not firing him but offering him redundancy. If he doesn't take it he will be made redundant.
They are not dismissing him, I don't know why that is. I am not surprised he is being let go and nobody who worked with him is either.
I played no part in it, he was well able to manage that himself. I complained about him to my manager once but in hindsight I was too nice and should have complained more. If I had they might have extended his probation and not made him permanent. Now they have to pay him a redundancy package to get rid of him. He has only been there just under two years so it might not be much but still. He shouldn't get a cent because he was absolutely atrocious at his job. He was like some guy that was pulled in off the street.
That's the bit I can't understand; I saw his CV and he has some roles on it that would require a fairly high degree of expertise. So his level of incompetence in this job is hard to figure out. Also I saw the references he gave when applying for this job and they were glowing; "follows instruction well etc.". Nothing could be further from the truth, this guy was hopeless at following instructions.
He pulled their pants down completley anyway.Maybe his CV and references were fake? Btw I am not in any way smug or self-satisfied that he is in effect being fired. It would have been much better for me if he was good at his job because I am over-worked and he would have been able to take some work off me if he had been competent. I don't feel sorry for him, he brought it on himself. But it is extraordinary that a person who knows absolutely diddly-squat can earn a salary like that.

Ash.J.Williams · 13-08-2025 01:32PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122261136#Comment_122261136

He negotiated his salary fair and square

lukin · 13-08-2025 01:37PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123719260#Comment_123719260

If he told lies on his CV then it wasn't "fair and square". Maybe his CV is legit, I doubt it though. He was able to request that salary based on his CV, I take your point. He made a mug of my employers, my manager more or less said that to me. Fair play to him; he got a nice bit of money for doing nothing. But he was caught out in the end and is now out of a job.

He might pull the same stunt in the next place.

RoTelly · 13-08-2025 01:41PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123719278#Comment_123719278

Yeah, it tends to happen alright.

Did you get a pay rise or a promotion?

On redundancy or severance. There are only a few times when you can be terminated under the law.

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/unemployment-and-redundancy/dismissal/fair-grounds-for-dismissal/

Gross misconduct can lead to instant or immediate dismissal without notice or pay in lieu of notice. Examples of gross misconduct include:
Assault
Drunkenness
Stealing
Bullying
A serious breach of your employer's policies and practices

If the employee goes to WRC then its up to the employer to prove they are right.

lukin · 13-08-2025 01:46PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123719293#Comment_123719293

I got a pay rise when I said to my manager that I believed I was being underpaid based on the new guy not being so great (that's being diplomatic 😀). He is now talking about a further pay rise and promotion; I suppose based upon this fiasco with the other guy.

RoTelly · 13-08-2025 01:48PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123719309#Comment_123719309

Congratulations, if anything good came off it.

Now I just need a few months in a job I can't do? What's the name of the company you work for :)

lukin · 13-08-2025 02:20PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123719313#Comment_123719313

Well he was there almost two years in fact.

Fr Tod Umptious · 13-08-2025 02:28PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123719255#Comment_123719255

I've seen guys who were terrible in certain companies and then moved to other companies doing more or less the same thing and absolutely excelled.

There are many factors to it, environment, management, work colleagues etc.

It happens, maybe for this guy it happened the other way around, maybe this environment didn't suit him.

Don't assume he has lied on his CV or that his references are fake.

lukin · 13-08-2025 03:02PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123719458#Comment_123719458

Believe me, this guy wouldn't excel at picking his own nose.

AndrewJRenko · 13-08-2025 08:48PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123719255#Comment_123719255

If they're using redundancy as their performance management approach, it could well get them into trouble down the road. Redundancies apply to posts, not to people.

lukin · 14-08-2025 08:52AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123720468#Comment_123720468

I know but that is the way they have decided to get rid of him. Maybe they are too nice to sack him or are afraid of him taking an unfair dismissal case. I'd say he will probably leave of his own accord.

Bogey Lowenstein · 14-08-2025 03:22PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123719255#Comment_123719255

Your boss probably gave him a great reference, that is what they do when they want shot of somebody.

RoTelly · 14-08-2025 03:31PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123722382#Comment_123722382

How does this work? There is a self help book in this.

Bogey Lowenstein · 14-08-2025 03:37PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123722414#Comment_123722414

It is like the episode of Curb where people kept fobbing this useless PA off on their friends. They would say she was an amazing assistant but give some excuse why they had to reluctantly let her go. She was being passed all around Hollywood. 😂

lukin · 14-08-2025 03:48PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123722382#Comment_123722382

No it wasn't that. The references he gave when applying for this job were from contract jobs. They were for six months or thereabouts. And he did those contract jobs remotely so his boss didn't actually see him doing the work. I think his wife may have done the work for him because I looked her up on LinkedIn and she works remotely too, doing the same kind of work that he did in the contract jobs by strange coincidence. Since Covid happened there are a lot of people working remotely and that way you can't be certain who is actually doing the work.

lukin · 21-08-2025 07:32PM

The guy is gone anyway. He was offered temporary redundancy and took it. I don't know how much he got, he was only there just short of two years so I suppose he got the minimum under law, I don't know. He shouldn't have got one cent because he was nothing but a fraudster and a conman. He should have actually paid back the salary he was paid while he was working here. Because he didn't earn a cent of it.

He had the same job title as myself; IT Developer, working mostly in SQL. It was clear from an early stage to me and the other guy I work with that he knew absolutely nothing about SQL. I was actually shocked at his lack of knowledge. He didn't know what a "group by" clause was for example. He couldn't complete a simple function after I had done 90 percent of it for him. I don't think he actually knew much about IT in general, not just SQL.

I had to install Chrome Remote Desktop on his PC because he couldn't do it. Also he didn't care that he didn't know anything. He was quite happy to let others do his work for him. He would still be here if he hadn't been moved on.

He wasn't given a written test when he was hired, that was definitely an oversight. His CV is impressive, he worked for some very reputable employers (doing SQL) so maybe that is why he was not given a written test, the interviewer saw that and said "no need, his CV speaks for itself". But I can't see how he could have worked in those places and not known what he didn't know. His level of incompetence was simply staggering. It is amazing that a guy like that can come in to a workplace and get paid a huge salary. I don't feel one bit sorry for him but I don't take any pleasure in it either.

I am grateful to my manager and HR for getting shut of the guy.

Edit; amazingly he actually got a written reference upon leaving (I saw it). It wasn't overly complimentary not surprisingly. I wouldn't have given him any reference.

He also got nine weeks pay. Legally he had to get that much. Worked out fairly well for him so.

Incompetent work colleague on higher salary than me

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