Team lead vaguely discusses coworker’s poor performance with management after sales plunge; regrets it when manager starts considering firing her

In modern workplace scenarios, team leads are the last line of management to maintain the workflow of an office. They generally report to the lower-level management, and in doing so, they sometimes get themselves in a ‘sticky’ situation, which is rarely highlighted.

One team lead on Reddit is going through a situation like this in a rather unpleasant way. Their apparent casual discussion about one of a female employees’ work ethics with the management is now threatening the co-worker’s job.

The team lead, who shared the situation on Reddit's r/work forum, said they had accepted a team lead position only a year earlier. However, managing a small team of fewer than five people was proving difficult because of one coworker whose work habits are a matter of disarray.

Coworker getting fired because of TL's suggestion: Team lead says their habits were affecting sales and referrals

According to the Reddit post, at the start, the team lead had been hesitant to accept the promotion. Before accepting the offer, they already knew that working with that coworker could be arduous .

The coworker is a chatty type; she can’t stay focused and often chats with another colleague and even unbothered about the incomplete tasks.

The situation improved when the coworker took time off for personal reasons for a month. And then the team performed well, with less people. “While we were one man down, the next few months actually turned out to be the best in terms of revenue and flow,” the employee wrote.

But things changed after she returned to office. Then the team lead wrote the manager “a large email stating what this person needed to correct,” so that the manager could meet them one-on-one to address this.

Although the following weeks went relatively well, the old habits eventually returned, the team lead recounted. “Over the last 2 months our sales are down, referrals are down and again,” the team lead alleged before blaming it on the co-worker and her “lack of commitment” to the job.

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Employee considers stepping down before suggesting coworker's dismissal

With repeated performance discussions failing to produce lasting improvements, the team lead said the situation was beginning to affect their own well-being.

The repetitive performance discussion began to affect the team lead’s mental health, and they informed the manager that they wished to step down.

During that conversation, the employee also vaguely suggested “that letting go of my coworker was the only solution I could see getting us back on track.”

The manager, however, did not want the team lead to leave the position, instead, she began considering terminating the coworker's employment.

“I'm 100% positive if I did not mention firing them, this person would not be in as much danger,” the Reddit user wrote. "Am I being a jerk?" they asked Reddit users.

Reddit users say the final decision rests with management

Several commenters disagreed that the team lead was responsible if the firing happen in future. One commenter pointed out that the team lead had brought the problem to people who had the authority to act, rather than taking matters into their own hands.

“You didn't fire them, you reported what was happening and it's management's call from there,” the commenter wrote.

Another argued that the team lead had limited options because they were responsible for the team's results but apparently lacked the authority to formally discipline or write up the coworker.