How to deal with colleagues who take advantage of their seniority at work

When we enter a new company, we are new employees, while those who entered the company earlier are old colleagues. Some companies may have old employees who have worked for more than ten years. However, most old employees are easy to get along with, but it is not impossible to encounter some old colleagues who take advantage of your seniority and refuse to cooperate with you in various ways, or even order the newcomer around. So what should you do in this situation?

What do you do if your senior colleague takes advantage of your seniority at work?

1. No head-on collision

This is very important. Not to mention that old employees have deep connections in the company and will suffer if they confront new employees head-on, on the other hand, both leaders and old employees in the company tend to have negative views of new employees who are too strong. People don't care much about right and wrong, but intuitively think that such people have unruly personalities and are difficult to discipline; on the contrary, when old employees have direct conflicts with others, people are either accustomed to it or feel confident because the other party is capable and has good performance.

2. Use the dragging method to deal with colleagues’ shirking of responsibilities and set your own bottom line

The most typical form of bullying by old employees against new employees is to dump their own work on the newcomers, especially some repetitive and clerical work, such as collecting information, copying materials, organizing files, etc.

Most new employees are new to the workplace and are afraid of offending others. They also want to leave an impression of being diligent and helpful. Therefore, they respond to all requests. Once they receive a request, they immediately put down their work to deal with these trivial matters, which may eventually affect their own work. Working overtime becomes the norm, and the impression of being a "nice guy" is firmly established among colleagues. Everyone is used to looking for him when they have something to do, which eventually forms a vicious cycle.

Newcomers should establish such an understanding: completing their own work is always the first priority. Facing frequent extra work, direct refusal is certainly not a good way, but newcomers can smile and use the method of procrastination to make the other party give up.

3. Enhance your own strength and manage the relationship with key decision makers

In the workplace, although the evaluation of your colleagues has a certain impact on your promotion and salary increase, what really plays a decisive role is your own strength and your direct supervisor. Therefore, enhancing your work ability and building a good relationship with your direct supervisor is the most fundamental solution.

How to deal with colleagues who take advantage of their seniority in the office

It is normal to encounter colleagues who take advantage of their seniority in the workplace, but it also depends on what type they are.

Professional and technical

He has professional ability but no management ability and has been working at the grassroots level in the company for many years. He is an expert in a certain position and can hold up half the sky. The leaders have to give way to him.

For such people with professional strength, if you can settle down and do this business, be humble and learn, coax such old people, learn more professional knowledge, and learn how to deal with emergencies, such old people have work experience in their posts and know how to deal with many difficult problems. Learning more will be helpful to your future.

Old oil stick type

Old hands without professional skills, who have been working in the company for many years and have no ability to change, can only eat and drink for free in the company. Although I don't like such people, you should not offend them. Such people usually have some connections in the company. If you offend them, they may do some small things behind your back to make you unhappy in the company. So avoid them if you can and reduce contact.

Professional veteran in the workplace

Those who have been in the company for only ten days or half a month and then start to take advantage of their seniority will not last long in any company. They are self-righteous and should be ignored. After a long time, they will not contact you again, or they will be unable to bear it anymore and fight back in a domineering manner.

In this situation, you must be prepared for both situations. In case there is a background issue, you may be fired. Have you thought about what to do next?

How to refuse a task given to you by an old colleague

First, proceed step by step

For example, if she asks you to help with several projects in one day, then starting from tomorrow, you can refuse one or two. Start with a small thing, write it down when you get home, and do a week of sorting. After a week, see how many times you have refused and what you have refused. However, starting from the second week, you can add one more thing to refuse. Because it is not a one-time break, she will not notice your change, which is also a great progress for you.

Second, clarify your boundaries

After taking the first step, the second step is to isolate yourself from this person. To be honest, if you are doing these things for your direct supervisor, it is still valuable from a utilitarian point of view, but if it is just an ordinary colleague, it is of no value at all. And you are letting your colleagues easily enter your private space.

Third, keep your distance

Since you find it annoying, it means you don't like doing these things. It's just that you are afraid that others don't like you and want everyone to like you. In fact, it is impossible. Even if you do really well, there will still be people who don't like you. Just like you, there are always some people you don't like.

So be friendly on the surface, but be clear in your heart that these are just people you work with and partners you cooperate with. Only when everyone keeps a distance can there be more beauty.

Related News

Newcomers in the workplace will encounter people who sell out old employees. This is a normal phenomenon. When they see you as a newcomer in the workplace, they want to help and guide you. It’s just that they may express it in a way or in words that may make you feel uncomfortable, but they do have good intentions. However, there are also many old employees who rely on their long years of work and their knowledge. Then they think that you are a yellow-haired boy who just graduated, and they have a strong self-esteem, so they will show off in front of you, making you think they are very good, and then create a sense of honor and vanity. There are also many old employees who, when facing new colleagues, think that newcomers should be bullied, and newcomers should do more work, dirty work, and hard work. At the same time, they rely on newcomers and dare not offend them, so they make it worse and make new employees feel uncomfortable. Another possibility is that you are too sensitive.