Employee Claims He ‘Can’t Trust’ New Coworker Because She Pushes Back on His Instructions

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JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Aug 12, 2026 8:00 PM EDT

Incorporating a new employee into the fold can be tricky work.

When you're working a job, you probably want to get into the flow with your new coworkers. Building a team takes time, and too much turnover can be a bad thing for teamwork. You need a combination of people with different strengths and different weaknesses to complement each other. The best bosses and hiring managers know this and try to assemble teams of people who can work well together. It's a delicate balance though, and not always easy to get right. And when you add a new voice to the mix, things can go wrong pretty easily. It's not difficult to get stuck in your ways as an employee. You have your certain way of doing things, and when something comes along to disrupt that, you bristle at the change. But change can be a good thing. Maybe you're an employee who has really gotten used to the way things run. You're in your comfort zone, and you're in your flow state. But just because you're in your comfort zone doesn't mean it's the best way to do something. Sometimes it takes a fresh perspective to help change things up and get some new life force in the organization. 

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  • A group of coworkers sit around a conference room table
    via Annie Spratt

    Subjects are models representing story
    A group of coworkers sit around a conference room table

  • No longer can trust new co worker.

    a new team member joined the team approximately three months ago, bringing 8+ years of experience in the field. Early on, she was notably friendly and accommodating — frequently bringing snacks for the team and going out of her way to be agreeable with coworkers.
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  • Over time, I observed what I interpreted as confusion when I gave her direction; she would appear to push back or ask repeated questions, and I responded by redirecting her patiently, assuming she needed more onboarding support.
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  • Today, it came to my attention that she told another coworker she believes our current procedures are flawed ("dumb") and that she does not intend to follow protocol, preferring to do things her own way because she believes her approach is better. She also stated that she enjoys "ruffling feathers," has difficulty
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  • accepting "no," and acknowledged having issues with authority. Regarding her relationships with teammates, she said she doesn't intentionally try to undermine them, but "if it happens, it happens."
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  • In light of these comments, I'm reassessing my earlier read of her behavior. What I previously took for confusion may instead have been intentional pushback against direction. Other team members have also noticed the shift and have begun questioning whether her earlier friendliness was genuine.
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  • AdOk8910 Can I ask if your team is documenting and sharing the expectations? And explaining why those expectations are the way they are? Are you the boss, what does boss say? Sometimes we can fall into Form over Function. Perhaps she sees the flaw in that, don't discount their input here. And I say that too. because it feels like there's more to the story.
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  • Fit-Meringue2118 Just make her your boss's problem. You're not authority, you don't need to be correcting her work or telling her no. You do your job and document incidents that are obviously a violation. (If it impacts you or the team. If you like your boss. Honestly, I'm 50/50 there, sometimes there's stuff the boss just won't care about)
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  • Maleficent_Guide9072 Is it possible that she has identified opportunities for improvement in your workflows but isn't great at direct communication or uncomfortable disagreeing openly because she's new? Before you decide who she is based on hearsay,
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  • consider the possibility that the information you received from your other coworker may a) not be accurate at all or not to some degree or that b) it may be accurate but representative of the new employee's frustration with not being able to influence how she is allowed to work, even when she sees a way that may be more efficient. Make sure you explain the why and be open to feedback.
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  • Aesperacchius Let your supervisor/manager know and let them take it from there. People who try to do things their way in orgs that have established processes, without actually changing those processes through the formal process are no bueno, especially if your org has any sort of QC/QA in place.
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  • This is why it's good to hire new people when you can. They use their fresh set of eyes to look at things from a new perspective. Maybe they can identify ways that you can update your systems to make them work even better. But if you're the old guard in this situation, you might be reticent to make too much change. You might have been fine with the way things were going before, and you don't want to lose that sense of ownership. That's what was happening in this story, when a new employee came along and shook things up. But instead of having an open mind to change, the person writing the story was immediately suspicious of their new coworker. Keep scrolling to read on and see if you think this was justified or if they were being unnecessarily skeptical. 

  • A pair of coworkers sit next to each other at a coworking table
    via Annie Spratt

    Subjects are models.
    A pair of coworkers sit next to each other at a coworking table

  • Far-Agent117 Why do you care. You are a cog in the system, just do what you are hired to do and mind your own business.
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  • RightWingVeganUS No longer can trust new co worker Have you considered the possibility that your new coworker might have valid observations?
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  • I always encourage new team members to use their "new eyes" to question and challenge what we do. Perhaps we haven't explained or documented things as well as we could. That's fixable. Perhaps there are flaws and deficiencies in our procedures that we've gotten so accustomed to we're missing the opportunity to fix them.
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  • Perhaps the new person has an innovative approach that is worth considering to make our team more effective and efficient. Consider working with your coworker as a professional and approach with curiosity and courtesy, not distrust.
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  • Unless it is your role to assess her behavior discuss your concerns and observations with your manager/supervisor instead of gossiping with other team members.
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  • psichodrome devil's advocate here. Her method is how you climb the ladder. Have new ideas, don't give a f about the actual work, and generally lie to colleagues.
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  • RiskOnRicky Sounds like a lack of empowerment by the manager to me. They want to get on with work, and do a good job, but feel that there is no point doing this as it will inevitably not follow the exact protocol you use. Prince2 manage by exception needed here
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  • Sharknados AreCool maybe your procedures are absolutely a backwards and she knows if she tries to change them, she will be ignored. had jobs like this where we brought in someone experienced who knows what theyre doing and knows the current process will lead to failure, but doesn't want to fail.
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  • its like if youre an expert captain and you get hired onto the Titanic and then a businessman tells you it's standard procedure to drive straight into an iceberg lol
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  • onmy40 Can't trust a new coworker before they've been around long enough to prove themself. She hasn't even been there a full quarter yet
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  • Whiskin87 Ask her to share her ideas about process improvements, but make it clear that pushback just for the sake of pushback isn't the way your team works. Collaboration, blah blah, and see how she responds. Document everything. Send follow up emails. I wouldn't trust her either.
    via laazul

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boss antiwork workplace-stories job work coworkers working toxic-boss coworker drama workplace new coworker bad bosses toxic-work-environment
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