Conversation with manager about coworker not pulling weight
My manager and I have a pretty chill working rapport. I’m a non eng program manager in tech and ‘career level’ so I am generally given autonomy to get my stuff done.
I recently got a new colleague. I have about eight years of work experience on them and am a higher ‘level.’ We both worked on a separate program and basically we are supposed to be merging our programs and working on both.
My issue is they are completely uninterested in work, apart from being told exactly what to do. I am up to speed on their program because I provided temp coverage while they were out on two separate extended leaves. They have not provided coverage nor even tried to learn what I do.
With regards to “my” program, when we first met I shared what I needed to train them on and they kept saying, “well I don’t even know what that is.” And I was like, “I know. That’s why I’m training you, I didn’t either when I first started.” They have since lost access and keep telling me they’re “working on it” when I remind them to get access back.
For “their” program, I am dedicating half my time.
They take the easy route on all the work. They will acknowledge that something is the right path but that they don’t want to do it. They will try to take shortcuts and say something is another teams problem (it’s not).
They use my name to sign off on emails they send from our team inbox because “it’s less confusing.” They ask me to weigh in on every decision or case they review. When they have to push back or share responses on items, they will ask me to do it because I “explain it better” or “(the person we’re responding to) likes you more and will take it better.” They will not do any updates and leave it to me. Then get annoyed with other managers ask them about their own work. They keep trying to give me more of the work despite them having 40 hours a week to work on this program.
I want to talk to my manager about their performance and its impact on my own workload. I don’t want to throw them under the bus but right now, I would literally rather do it all myself.
Is this a manager issue? Or do I need to learn to flex my own leadership skills as the senior level employee?