Jobsworth

A jobsworth is a person who uses the (typically small) authority of their job in a deliberately uncooperative way, or who seemingly delights in acting in an obstructive or unhelpful manner.

Related concepts include malicious compliance, passive-aggressive behavior, and micromanagement, which can impair progress through excessive focus on details and obsessive control over those one has authority over.

An example of the phrase in its original context can be found in the 1965 Beatles movie Help!, when Roy Kinnear's character, the assistant scientist Algernon, exclaims, "Well it's more than my job's worth to stop him when he's like this; he's out to rule the world...if he can get a government grant."

The term became widespread in vernacular English through its use in the popular 1970s BBC television programme That's Life!, which featured Esther Rantzen covering various human interest and consumer topics.

[4] The term is in use, particularly in the UK, to characterise inflexible employees, petty rule-following and excessive administration, and is generally used in a pejorative context.