Ask HN: Coworker works to unhealthy exhaustion. Should I say anything?

If you really want to help him, you first need to talk to him about it. Tell him you've noticed how hard he's working, and you'd like to help if you can. Be clear that you don't mean you're going to help by doing his work for him. Rather, you'd like to listen to his side of the story and see if the two of you could brainstorm some solutions.

After you've done this, you may discover that some additional learning/training could help him move faster. That's a best-case scenario. Perhaps he's just not equipped for this job, and he could start job hunting while he's still employed with your firm.

You're more likely to notice some things that can't just be fixed. You may discover that anxiety or excessive attention to detail (perfectionism) are causing him to take much longer.

Those are issues that only he can work on, and he'd need to work on them only with psychiatric professionals.

No matter the size of your company, you're going to encounter people who can't do their jobs very well and are harming themselves and/or the company. It's really none of your business unless A) they're in danger, B) they're doing something illegal, or C) you're their superior. Be very certain that your coworker is in danger before you proceed.

It sounds like he would benefit from a closer inspection of his working practises. Perhaps he needs to be managed in a different way. For example same amount of work just delivered as smaller tasks with shorter deadlines to avoid overwhelm. Maybe to start with, instead of him being part of an hourly weekly meeting, maybe he needs a 10 minute chat per day to help him to catch up, prioritise and plan the next day. This obviously would be the responsibility of his manager to take on.

Perhaps some training in planning out his working day in advance would throw out some interesting changes in how he learns to manage his own time.

I think the worst thing that could be done is to restrict his working hours which would add an extra level of worry - so he is sitting at home more stressed than if he was working.

The most important thing is to help him catch up so he is then receptive to support helping him keep on track.

Also, is he really that much farther "behind" than his co-workers, or is he just "behind" based on some arbitrary and unrealistic deadline set by management?

And I agree with the other commenter who said that you shouldn't talk to this guy's manager. There are just too many ways that could end badly.