Part 2 – The Exhausting Employee

In most companies, being a manager comes with certain perks. The manager may get a bigger or nicer office. The manager might have an assigned parking space. The manager is likely to make more money and earn more vacation time. However, being a manager is not a total cake walk. There’s a reason managers typically earn more and get more perks. The job can be tough. While a manager’s job primarily entails managing people, products and processes, make no mistake that dealing with challenging employees is probably the hardest part of the job. “Difficult employees” – which can be manifested in a myriad of ways – are time-consuming to manage. It is usually the most draining and thankless part of any management position.

Consider that the average workplace in the U.S. is hugely diverse in terms of the nationalities/ethnicities, job skills, personalities, attitudes towards work and life, individual quirks and personal preferences of its staff.  It is a salad bowl of qualities, flaws and behaviors that, when mixed, may produce a qualified team and rich work environment.  But it can also deliver some “difficult” employees whose personalities, attitudes, or approaches to work and life are so skewed that they create problems for colleagues and managers alike.  What is a manager to do when faced with one of these exhausting employees?  One thing is certain…. ignoring the problem is NOT the answer.

An Exhausting Employee Defined

There are a number of behaviors, attitudes and faults that can turn an otherwise skilled, valuable member of the team into a ‘bad apple’ that threatens to spoil the bunch.   While this list is by no means exhaustive, here are some of the most common – and arguably worst – employee behaviors or traits that can be problematic.  They fall into four major categories.

Passive-Aggressive Behaviors

1. Mr. Unproductive – works at a pace or achieves results that are below what is expected for the position
2. Ms. Uncooperative – is unwilling to work with others on the team to accomplish goals
3. Mr. Pessimism – has a bad attitude that puts a damper on every endeavor through perpetual negativity

Openly Oppositional Behaviors

1. Mrs. Insubordination – refuses to obey orders or instructions; openly or covertly defies authority
2. Mr. Antagonism – demonstrates hostility that causes friction with either coworkers, customers and/or managers
3. Ms. Inflexibility / Mrs. Mulish – is intractable in taking direction or changing course based on management, customer, team or colleague feedback

Aloof Behaviors

1. Mrs. Distractedness – is unable to get and stay on task due to attention to non-work-related matters.
2. Ms. Disengaged – produces inferior quality or reduced quantity of work due to an underlying lack of interest in the work, workplace or work team.
3. Mr. Careless – demonstrates a repeated lack of attention to detail resulting in important, costly mistakes.
4. Ms. Chronically Tardy or Absent – is unreliable due to an inability to get to work on time daily.

Hyper-involved Behaviors

Mr. Manipulation – undermines productivity and teamwork by unfairly, unscrupulously or cleverly controlling or influencing a person or process.

Mrs. Emotionally-charged / Excessivelydramatic – is driven by emotion and attention and enjoys spreading gossip and rumors and sharing personal traumas with coworkers to a degree that is beyond professional.  They might have personal emotional breakdowns at work and add drama to any work-related issue.  They can turn small issues into major problems.

Mr. Know-it-all – is arrogant and has a perpetually-superior attitude, believing he can do no wrong.  This makes him stubborn and poorly receptive to redirection and criticism.   His rigid views are either the result of doing the job for a while and thinking he knows everything there is to know already, or an inflated sense of self-assurance typical of a freshly-graduated youth.

Does one or more of these behaviors or traits ring a bell?  Is there an employee at work that could be the poster child for one of these demeanors?  So what is a manager to do with a mulish purchasing agent, or an emotionally-charged customer service rep, or an insubordinate executive assistant?  One thing is certain.  If the approach for handling difficult employees in the past was to sweep the problem under the rug, it is time to put the broom away.

An Exhausting Employee Handled

The behavior of a “tough employee” might not seem like much of an issue to a senior exec.   However, working with a difficult person – day in and day out — can become a major irritant for those in closest proximity to and most-directly affected by the boorish behavior.  So while a high-level manager may want to blow off a difficult employee as “no big deal”, one exasperating employee in a department can kill teamwork, reduce productivity, destroy morale, and hamper excellence.  Even worse, exhausting employees can be grouchy, impolite, condescending, uninformed, misleading, inappropriate or simply wrong when dealing with subordinates, colleagues, vendors and clients.  So what is a manager to do?  Deal with it.  Here are some tips.

1.  Start by listening

We have two ears but only one mouth.  For a manager, that means he should listen twice as much as he speaks.  Often, with difficult employees, managers stop paying attention to what is actually happening.  In irritation, a manager will turn his attention to other things to avoid the issue.  Instead, the manager should become more attentive when someone’s not doing well.  The best shot at improving the situation lies in having the clearest possible understanding of the situation – including understanding the difficult employee’s perspective.  The exasperating employee may start acting very differently once he or she feels heard and the manager may uncover a legitimate issue that needs to be addressed.

2.  Give clear feedback.

Most managers spend months, even years, complaining about poor employees… and never give actual feedback about what that person should do differently.  Why?  Because giving constructive criticism is one of the most uncomfortable things a manager can do.  The key is to lower the employee’s defensiveness, and give them specific information they need in order to improve.

3.  Identify all possible solutions.

Sometimes an employee may not be a good fit in one position or department, but can still be a valuable asset to the company.  After all, it is expensive to recruit, hire and train new employees.  Of course, passing off a toxic employee to another department is not the answer.   A good manager will look for ways to fix the problem or find another solution that may benefit all concerned.

4.  Document everything.

Whenever a manager is having significant problems with a particular employee, document each issue and write recommendations made to remedy the issue.  Routinely managers are unable to let a difficult employee go because there is no record of the bad behavior. The failure to document sometimes arises out of misplaced hope that the employee will improve.  Other times, it is just a result of being too busy or just sheer laziness.  Good managers know, though, that documentation is key.  If the behavior improves, the documentation can be filed and forgotten.   If, however, the behavior persists, then the documentation provides a record of actions taken.

5.  Be fair and consistent.

Employees look at a manager’s deeds more than his words.  If a behavior is not acceptable, then it should never be acceptable.  If a behavior is expected, then it should always be expected.  Hold everyone accountable in the same way for the same actions.

6.  Communicate consequences.

If an undesirable behavior persists, the manager should indicate that while the situation still can be resolved, there is a deadline and consequences if it isn’t.  The consequence can range from something simple, like a written warning to the employee’s personnel file, to something more punitive, such as being passed over for a promotion, or even the ultimate consequence, termination of employment.  Faced with a real consequence, the employee will feel real pressure to change.  However, if change doesn’t happen, then whatever consequence was communicated must then be implemented.

7.  Keep the matter confidential.

No matter how difficult an employee may be, a manager should never discuss, gossip or bad-mouth one employee to other employees.  This is detrimental for various reasons.  It creates an environment of distrust and back-stabbing.  It pollutes others’ perception of the person, so that even if the employee improves, it is difficult to reestablish cohesiveness within the team or department.  It also makes the manager look weak and unprofessional.

By taking the above steps, many difficult employees can be turned around and become valuable members of the team.  Of course, there are some people who are either toxic or just don’t fit in with a particular corporate culture.  In those situations, it is sometimes best for all concerned for the company and employee to part ways.  While firing a difficult employee is often the hardest thing a manager has to do, it is a step that should not be avoided if a problem behavior that is detrimental to the company persists.  If it gets to that point, the manager should handle it directly, without hesitation or procrastination.

Quote of the Week

“The employees who are most difficult to reach are often the eccentric ones, the extremely talented ones, or the rainmakers who bring in the customer base.” Albert Einstein

© 2015, Keren Peters-Atkinson. All rights reserved.