Dealing with frustrated outbursts from colleague in hall [closed]

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

In my hall, there's one person who occasionally has frustrated outbursts. He'll suddenly swear and bang on his keyboard and desk for a few moments.

I talked to him once after asking him if things were okay, and it seems that he was frustrated by some blockages in a bad software build that were blocking his work.

Still, the outbursts are somewhat regular (3-4 times a week) and are inappropriate (our workplace is filled with pretty calm people).

I don't think that he'd be violent toward others, but it is disturbing and I do not know if anyone else has yet reported it. A few people I asked about it have said that it has become more frequent in the past two weeks. The swear phrases are almost identical to each other, almost like its clockwork. Someone else in the hall just "tunes" it out. I think most people would rather avoid the awkwardness.

I'm wondering how I can proceed without necessarily costing this person a job or adding to his frustrations. Our workplace is reasonably supportive of employees and I don't want to be harming this person in the short term either.

manpreet 2 years ago

You should report this out of concern for the employee, the team who is having to listen to the outbursts, and the company (as productivity will eventually be affected if it is not already).

I would say something like, "I don't know if you are aware, but Bill is swearing loudly and banging on his keyboard in frustration several times a week. He did it this morning, and yesterday, and three times last week. It is becoming more frequent, and it is worrying/disturbing to me and others around him (if that is the case)." Then let it go. Do not expect the manager to tell you anything about how he or she intends to deal with the situation, as that is not your business. Expect that it may take a long time to resolve the situation. If the behavior repeats, you can mention it again, so that management knows the issue hasn't resolved.

So often people complain about coworkers and wonder why management isn't doing anything about the behaviors. Managers can't help if they don't know. And they may be doing something about it, and you just don't know it because PIPs and other remedial efforts are private. They can take a long time as different strategies may be tried to correct a given issue.

By reporting the behavior, you may be helping your coworker get the help he needs. The problems causing his frustration might get fixed, he might be operating on wrong assumptions of what's expected of him, the company might alter what is expected of him, he might get stress management training, he might benefit from a private workspace or a schedule with more breaks in it. If he ultimately loses his job, he may find a job that is a better fit and less stressful for him.