How to Deal With Difficult Co-Workers

Ideally everyone would have great co-workers, people who helped you to succeed professionally and made you feel appreciated and respected. Unfortunately this is not always what happens and you may be forced to deal with someone that makes your job harder.

Whether your colleague has anger control issues or is just not very competent at their job, at the end of the day you still have to get your work done.

Here are a few tips to help you deal with a difficult co-worker.

• Don’t let it negatively affect your work. Even if it’s tempting to take longer lunches to get away from a difficult co-worker, in the end you will suffer from it the most as you will need to make up the time in order to finish all your work. It may feel good to make your colleague look stupid at a meeting or to send them a passive-aggressive email but it won't do any good for your relationship and it won't make you feel any better in the long run. It will make your relationship with your co-worker even worse and make it harder to get your work done and nothing is more counterproductive than that.
• Write everything down. Document interactions with your colleague, whether its requests or criticisms. This way you have something to refer back to if your co-worker is being irrational or contradicting themselves. Having a record of everything they say to you can be helpful if your relationship gets so bad that you want to discuss the situation with a supervisor, you'll have written proof of what has been going on.
• Don’t react too hastily. Give yourself a little time to think before reacting when dealing with a conflict with your co-worker. . This will give you a chance to be level headed.  Even if your co-worker becomes emotional, you need to uphold your professional manner so that they have nothing to use against you. Your issues are more likely to be resolved if everyone is being calm while they are being discussed.
• Identify your co-workers triggers. Find the things that tend to lead to anger management issues and avoid them as much as you can.
• Don’t bring your work home with you. Try to get into the habit of leaving all the stresses of dealing with a difficult co-worker in the workplace and not taking them into your personal life – this will only add to your stress levels. This may mean having friends that don’t work with you to help you detach yourself from your work life.

Annual Wage Increase

Every year, The Fair Work Commission (FWC) reviews the minimum wages outlined in the modern awards as well as the national minimum wage for employees who are not currently covered by an award or enterprise agreement.

The Fair Work Commission has announced a 2.5% increase to minimum wages. The increase will begin from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2015.

The increase will only apply to employees that get their tax rates from the national minimum wage, a modern award or a registered agreement in some cases.

The new minimum wage will be $656.90 per week or $17.29 per hour. The national minimum wage is applied to employees who aren’t covered by an award or agreement. However, most employees are covered by an award. Award rates will be increased by 2.5%.

It is important for employers covered by an enterprise agreement to be conscious of their requirements relating to minimum pay rates because of the Annual Wage Review decision.
Section 206 of the Fair Work Act 2009 demands that the base rate of pay in an enterprise agreement must be at least equal to the appropriate modern award rate. If the enterprise agreement rates are less than those required under the relevant modern award, the agreement operates as if its base rates were equal to those under the modern award.

Employers could be at risk of underpayment claims if their enterprise agreement caters for annual wage increases that are less than the increases applied to the modern award rates in accordance with the annual wage review decision. This can particularly be an issue if the current pay rates under the enterprise agreement are equal to, or only marginally above, the applicable modern award base rates.
If employees are being paid a blended rate, comprehensive of some or all allowances, employers should ensure that the base rate is at least equal to or higher than the applicable modern award rate. This can cause problems in some cases where it is difficult to distinguish from the allowances included in the blended rate.

Employers who pay their employees an annual salary or wage must also be sure that their employees’ salaries are equal to, or higher than the payment that the employee would be entitled to for the hours they regularly work under an appropriate enterprise agreement or modern award.