Understanding Basic Coworker Types

A simple way to categorize your fellow employees

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

Different people achieve different levels of job-related success, whether they’re a broker, a builder, or a barista.

This depends on a few criteria. Have they been trained? How well do they know their assigned task(s)? How ambitious are they? How much creativity are they allowed? What do they get for their time/energy/results? Are there perks beyond a basic salary?

The various combinations of these criteria (and others) plus countless personalities can produce a huge variety of ways people approach their work. However, among all the characters you may notice three basic employee types:

• The Lifer (loves the work)
• The Commoner (tolerates the work)
• The Underachiever (avoids any work)

You’ll encounter variations of these, whether in person or online.

To life

Most of the time the best results come from employees who truly enjoy their work. Lifers have a sincere passion for the company’s product or service and cannot fathom spending their professional lives anywhere else. For instance, I work for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), where a handful of co-workers have their pilot’s licenses or live…