Everyone knows at least one slacker. There are those who have no need to cheat: they completely embrace this dilettante status with a shamelessness and composure that disrupts the collective and hinders the work of their colleagues. Their uninvolved attitude makes one cringe; seeing them survive, last, establish themselves and sometimes even progress in the hierarchy at a dizzying pace astonishes the most seasoned. Their CV is redone in the coffee machine. “As invincible as he is lazy” but, nuance an envious person, “he is still gifted” – to achieve his ends. He necessarily has files on those who matter or he is, directly or indirectly, close to those who are in the highest echelons. But this is not always the case and it could be that the one who makes his comrades his servants is a manipulative personality, as described by François Lelord and Christophe André in New difficult personalities (Odile Jacob, 2021).
A manager can observe revealing behaviors within his team. Some employees neglect their responsibilities: they claim to be too tired, overworked, threaten burnout, or they have their tasks done by others in the annoyed tone of: “look at the office next door.” Thus, we recognize those with psychopathic tendencies: “charm, overestimation of oneself, ease of lying, emotional coldness, disdain for established rules can be found at the top of the hierarchy and sometimes help to access it” (New difficult personalities).
This almost reptilian knowledge of everyone around him allows this employee, every manager’s nightmare, to work for his glory without processing his files. He builds a system that he masters without sharing, by exploiting the work of others and collecting the laurels. The colleague states an idea, but he formalizes it and achieves success. This on-the-ground intelligence can, however, be challenged by the narcissist, who hardly feels affected when he receives a refusal (“it’s never his fault”, according to the experts) but reserves “the biggest share of the game” for himself. killed by the tribe or to become the chief in place of the chief. The manager crippled by “imposter syndrome” or by natural shyness has no chance: he will be under the influence of the narcissistic subject who knows how to “fight without qualms” to obtain what he desires – demolish the floor above.
Taking power and having a good time is also the prerogative of histrionics who have a “tendency to ‘sexualize’ the relationship, even in a professional context”, specify François Lelord and Christophe André. With a “somewhat childish behavior” this seductive personality softens its prey, who adopts a “protective feeling”. The victim is both under the spell and feels valued, indispensable; she no longer counts her hours to cover up histrionics, which does as little as possible.
The most hidden
In the art of laziness, there are other, more discreet, but no less talented behaviors. Thus, the “overwhelmed” person who we never manage to question, walled up behind a pile of files or who runs with his laptop from one place to another in an exhausted and concentrated mode. This austere person, who checks everything, is classified as “serious”, but what about his real productivity? He never took on extra work and on several occasions his own tasks were given to others. His strategy rivals that of the “accumulator”, this other profile which, conversely, shows so much that he works that he never finishes and sometimes does not even start. However, he allows himself to assess and judge the work of the one who was obliged to replace him.
At the opposite end is the “discreet” one, who knows how to be forgotten: he works his hours and never deviates from the rules. However, the manager must follow up with him to understand what he does, sometimes discovering that he has a “double life” devoted to parallel activities in which he excels. He could be one of those employees who gradually disengage from their work in mode quiet quitting. This silent resignation would be practiced by 37% of French people (“the professional involvement of the French and their perception of the value of work, Ifop for Les Makers”, 2023). And how many are content to mechanically carry out their tasks (emails, phone calls), or tap on their keyboard while absent-mindedly turning a page, until the monitoring software is triggered? Never caught at fault, these experts in the least effort and in AI even become geeks by force… of their laziness.
.