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

Larger states—like California or Texas—might have the funding to pick up the slack, but smaller states simply would not have the capacity to respond to natural disasters. —Simmone Shah, Time, 2 May 2025

There is also some evidence that institutional investors are now dipping their toes back into the pool after scaling back during a volatile April, leaving it to short-covering hedge funds and retail to pick up the slack . —Jesse Pound, CNBC, 1 May 2025

Kyiv is keen to lock in crucial U.S. military aid for the war, amid doubts about whether Europe could pick up the slack if Washington walks away. —Illia Novikov, Los Angeles Times, 29 Apr. 2025

Without federal or philanthropic entities to pick up the slack, these discoveries may never reach the patients who need them. —Jeffrey MacKeigan, The Conversation, 28 Apr. 2025