Do I stay or do I leave?

[Amanda]

I am an editor at a publishing company. A lot of the time I find myself without much to do at work. I am often bored. I often find myself making up work to do, just to keep from sitting, staring at my computer.

My officemate has about an equal amount of work to do... but doesn't do it. She will put things off until well after the last minute, and sit there and IM people and stalk Facebook. My officemate and I were hired to do the same job. They couldn't decide between the two of us, so they hired us both. It is obvious to me that each of us could easily handle the other's workloads in addition to our own.

I've considered leaving. I've started applying to jobs elsewhere. I fear that when I do find another job, and have to tell my boss that I'm leaving, that he's going to ask why, and I'm going to say, "Because I'm bored?" "Because you didn't need to hire two editors?"

The hard part is that I do love my job and my co-workers.

Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated.

[outofmymind]

continue to look for another job...dont ever settle for what you have...even if you stay. I think you should talk to your boss now though. Give your boss a chance to give you what you need. Maybe there is something additional you can do with extra compensation.

[Monica s]

I say tell your boss what the other editor is doing. Let them know that she isn't doing her job and that you want her out of there and get her assignments. Explain to them that there's no need for the two of you to do one job and that youre the more responsible one and actually want to do the work they have for you to do.

[bionicbookworm]

Have you tried just talking to your boss about increasing your work load or offering other ideas about how to increase job volume and productivity? Are there other tasks that you could cross train on to broaden your appeal at this company?

Does your editing job just cover submissions or do you edit the company web-site and marketing periodicals to be sure they are in line with the products you publish? In other words, are there other editing applications at the company that you could be doing?

Do you have weekly meetings to report on projects pending, current & completed? Your boss may not realize that you could easily take on more work. If you show a positive, proactive attitude you could very well become the 'go to' editor. If your company is looking to expand, having two of you may be the key to a smoother transition to a higher volume period that's expected. You should be the one that leads that team as you are showing real effort in your job.

Find ways to be part of positive change at your company. If you like it there, don't quit - make it better. Let the other girl quit!

[Mike]

If you are really bored, it would probably be best to change jobs because you will crazy with boredom. I wouldnt say anything about your co-worker. Let them figure out she just sits and chats and goes on facebook all day.