I’m 22 and I work in direct care and recently got promoted to assistant manager/ shift lead. There’s one staff member I work with who consistently does the bare minimum or less and gets away with it.
She’s behind on her paperwork, which directly prevents me from completing my own responsibilities. I even brought up having a quick 5 minute check in with her and my manager to address it, and my manager said she’d “get back to me” because of a “busy schedule.” But that same day, I had time to receive a phone call from her and upper management being reprimanded over something else.
Meanwhile, this staff member is repeatedly getting away with things that feel way more serious. She’s on her phone all of the shift IN FRONT of the house manager , has slept during shifts, comes and goes as she pleases,she’s always coming late and leaving early, speaks to residents inappropriately (including cussing at them), takes loud personal calls, and has even failed to take residents to doctor’s appointments just simply because she didn’t want to.
What’s even more frustrating is that when staff or residents report these issues, upper management doesn’t seem to address it they just say “okay” and nothing changes. At this point, it honestly feels like they’re avoiding confronting her or even scared to hold her accountable, and I don’t understand why. It’s blowing my mind because if I did half of the things she’s doing I wouldn’t even have a job.
I’m being asked to lead and be accountable, but how am I supposed to hold her accountable when my manager doesn’t? I’m just the assistant, and it feels like anything I say won’t carry weight without support from above. I also don’t handle discipline or correction the house manager does. I just report to her what’s going on and she does nothing about it .
I don’t want to create tension or seem like I’m targeting her, but this is a job where residents depend on us, and it feels like that’s being ignored.
Am I wrong for feeling this way? And how would you handle this situation?