pick/take up the slack

idiom

: to provide or do something that is missing or not getting done

The manager has to take up the slack when employees don't do their jobs correctly.

When he didn't get the pay raise he was expecting, he had to take another job to pick up the slack for more money.

Examples of pick/take up the slack in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But the stations do fetch fewer service calls in the wet winter months, according to fire department data, and they are also located relatively close by to a station on Skyline Boulevard, which will pick up the slack for the stations until summer. —Shomik Mukherjee, The Mercury News, 12 Jan. 2025

Craig and Paige pick up the slack (so that Craig can show off his backyard once again) and invite everyone who is going to be at Taylor’s party. —Brian Moylan, Vulture, 9 Jan. 2025

For community leaders like Robertson whose institutions often pick up the slack left by public schools, the best solution is school choice. —Christina Lengyel | The Center Square Contributor, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 14 Dec. 2024

And yet Hollywood continues to ignore us, leaving independent filmmakers and producers to pick up the slack. —Fidel Martinez, Los Angeles Times, 28 Dec. 2024