I work in a small firm - 6 ppl including 1 owner boss.
We got 1 coworker that does a good job but very slow and disorganized.
Our industry is very deadline driven and if they are not met, the clients will bear the consequences financially.
We all are professionals, have our own projects and clients and know what needs to be done for each and when. So we have to manage workload to meet deadlines. My boss doesn't micromanage and is a very supportive encouraging person.
This coworker is always behind. We don't mind helping each other out but this coworker always waits till last minute to ask for help and then we all drop our work to help them bc our goal is to serve the clients. The coworker is very touchy/sensitive, insecure and constantly runs to our boss to complain about any slight like a hurt child. We all try to minimize our interaction with them bc of that.
Anyway, I am sick and tired of helping them. The boss doesn't distribute projects evenly, he trusts us to know what needs to be done. The coworker bites more than they can chew bc they want to show their value and feel it's a job security if they have more work.
The other day the coworker came to us yet again to ask for help. I said I can't due to urgent project I had. Which was true. The coworker sometimes runs to the boss and he asks us to help and we can't say no to him. All of this causes interference in our workflow and adds unnecessary stress.
Bc of their mismanagement and missing deadlines we already lost some clients. My boss didn't address it in the way we all hoped.
How would you handle this recurring situation?