Associate driving me absolutely insane
We have an associate in the group that joined roughly a year ago. I seem to always get staffed with him so I've gotten to know his habits, work ethic, capabilities, etc. very well. He's easy to get along with, would grab a beer with him, but he's absolutely horrible to work with.
He doesn't come from a banking background and worked on the company / industry-side for several years. In other words, he's pretty new to IB altogether and how things work within our group and deal teams. I believe he got the job through one of our MDs who is very well regarded within the group (they're friends) and one of our VPs (they're friends too).
Over the last several months, I've been bailing him out of situations and work countless times. I see other analysts and associates working together on a model or a deck, but we never do that. The past associates I've worked with had always created the vibe of "we're splitting the work", but this associate is more along the lines of "hey I need you to do this". Granted some groups and deal teams within IB and some tasks can be like this, but that's not really how it is all the time within mine. Every time I ask him for help, he's tied up on something else. He hardly ever reviews my work and hardly ever knows how the analysis is put together. It very much feels like he's free loathing, as he always volunteers to send the PDF around to the group but doesn't really do any of the work
I think he's either having a power trip and thinks he's above that kind of work, or he doesn't know how to do the work (very very likely) but is scared to be exposed of it, or he just simply doesn't know how things work around here (still)
To go on further, this guy is terrible about keeping people in the loop. We find out about updates to deals hours or days after or from someone else. There were a lot of times when he would get comments or guidances / instructions from MDs and it would just sit in his inbox for hours or even days before he would circulate it to the entire junior team. It literally affects our work and makes the analysts look bad
He often makes other people go on these wild goose chase tasks that none of the officers asked for. We sometimes do things that were scratched by the MDs but he would never tell us till after. There were a lot of times when work the analysts put together in its entirety would never see the light of day because it was no longer required or was never asked for to begin with
He's the king over promising and under delivering. He spreads himself thin with tasks and responsibilities because he doesn't know how to say no. He has a hard time balancing projects, so we often wait on him to complete very basic slides or even something as simple as spreading comps (yes this has been done by him, an associate). If he finds himself backed into a corner and in a frantic situation, he will quickly dump it on us with very little time, which goes back to the part where we bail him out ALL THE TIME
I think the worst part is that he's pretty incapable of doing analyst level work but the officers really like him and don't see this side of him.
He actually is good at talking to MDs and knows how to say the right things, so I see why he is valuable to some extent, especially when coordinating things with clients and counter parties… anyways
I can go on longer but just curious… am I overreacting or is this frustration and anger justified? This has been going on for several months now, and I've talked to him about it more than a couple dozen times, not all the parts but most of it. How do you deal with someone like this? I've started to call him out more often - this seems to work temporarily. If something gets blamed on me for something the associate failed to do, I've been more transparent about the work flow and the responsibilities to the officer. Part of me feels like "you can't teach an old dog new tricks". I've considered going directly to the VP and just letting it all out, I've considered asking for a re-staffing, I've considered a lot of things. All I know is that this guy really sucks
Really depends on what your rep/image is in the group. If you're an AN1 it's unfortunately tough luck since your rep is just as new as his. If you got at least 2 years under your belt and you're well regarded as someone who can walk the talk, your words will hold weight when it comes as an informal review.
I would think about this in two ways:
1) Are you looking for the result to be punitive to feel good about the mistreatment you feel like you've been under, or do you actually want the situation to improve holistically?
2) Do you care about your reputation with him/her?
3) Do you see yourself leaving soon, or do you think you're going to be at your bank/group for a while?
At the end of the day the easiest way to approach this is to go scorched earth, call up your staffer or an officer that has pull, and let them know the situation. If the guy is simply clueless and not maliciously targeting you, chances are you're not the only person who feels that way about his work style. There will be others who can corroborate behind closed doors. Ultimately the end path here would be an anonymous heavy-handed feedback session delivered by VPs to him, with the worst-case scenario for him being that he gets fired by December if he doesn't improve. This happened to someone before I joined at my old bank.
The "considerate" approach would be to have a straight forward sit-down with him, present your views in a constructive way (so that it doesn't feel like it's just mud you're throwing) but reinforce that it's been extremely painful working. Don't present ultimatums, don't present threats (ex. "if you don't improve I have to escalate this"). If he's a good person (so part of this is reading him and how he could feasibly react) the best case scenario for you is that he genuinely had no idea, he's grateful you've brought this to his attention, and he will put serious effort into changing. The worst-case scenario for you is that he knows exactly what he's been doing, and he's been building relationships with more senior folk in the event something like this happened in which case it is his word vs yours when it comes to who is underperforming / overreacting.
Both answers have their own problems. You might even get asked by an officer with the first approach whether or not you've aired your concerns with him prior to escalating this with a VP (and in which case you would look like a shitty team player if you hadn't). Obviously with the latter you give the associate time to prepare himself for the inevitable meeting with HR/VPs and any negative review he gets "anonymously" in formal reviews can be directly attributed to you.
What I wouldn't do 100% is badmouth him around other folk and cause drama around the grapevine, or be passive-aggressive / cold to him out of his spite. Real G's move in silence like lasagna.
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