We all have that one colleague at work who is genuinely HATED by almost everyone in your team and the whole company in general. He/She has a thousand personality traits that tend to somehow get on everyone’s nerves, both personally and professionally. Lets call that colleague “Harry” for now irrespective of gender.

Harry has no respect for personal boundaries, always seems to find fault with the other divisions and makes it to point it out to all during meetings, loves to shift the blame onto others, makes it a point to cc your direct boss and the bigger bosses when pointing out something that you may have missed or even just takes stuff off your table without asking and never returning. Does this sound familiar? Almost every organisation has a Harry.

Despite all his irritating habits, flaws and despairingly poor work ethics; one thing is certain… HARRY WILL NEVER GET FIRED!!!

Now why is that so? Its simple.. Organizations need people like Harry!!!

If we take competence and actual ability out of the equation there are still 5 really solid reasons why Harry will never lose his job.

1. Harry fosters competition. Harry has the uncanny ability (in most cases it is not intentional) to drive a sense of competition among other staff members. The need to prove that Harry is all talk and no delivery tends to bring out some of the most aggressively positive results that a company needs.

2. Harry builds team spirit. Believe it or not, Harry builds team spirit and camaraderie. It might be against him but his actions tends to bring about a feeling of brotherhood and team spirit among the other staff members. All against one is good team spirit nonetheless.

3. Harry takes away the focus from bad management. With Harry being in the limelight for all the wrong reasons, the management gets to sit in a thick blanket of fog that shields them from the attention of the staff. This is extremely unhealthy for the organisation but it is still well practiced.

4. Harry is the “by default” fall guy. With so much negativity that Harry has built around himself, the management does not have to look too far to find a fall guy for any goof ups that happen in the upper corridors of power. Any explanation involving Harry will be gladly gobbled up by the staff.

5. Harry works EXTREMELY hard to survive. Now, Harry is not a fool. He knows the kind of image he has among his peers and how much he is resented by them. There is not much that he has to do to push their buttons and have him pulled up by the management. He compensates for this by working really really hard. Be it his job, or picking fault with others or just being HARRY… but he works extremely hard at it. The management cannot ignore the guy who puts in all this effort even when his back is against the wall.

In other words… HARRY WILL NEVER GET FIRED!!!

So, its best if you learn to ignore Harry and just go about doing what you are supposed to being doing. Don’t let Harry frustrate you and eat into your positivity.

‘Coz… Harry will never get fired!!