Dealing with difficult employees: A 5-step plan
As a business owner, manager or HR leader, you need to be an expert at dealing with difficult employees.
A difficult employee is not just a problem between one employee and another. If one person makes life difficult for the company, discontent can fester and become a major distraction. The air of dissent affects everyone and can cause a dramatic decrease in productivity and the departure of other employees.
If handled correctly, you have the power to diffuse the situation and return the team to productivity.
Unfortunately, dealing with difficult employees is an unavoidable part of the job, and itâs best to address the matter sooner rather than later.
Hereâs a five-step plan that can help you diplomatically and effectively resolve these situations.
1. Donât ignore the problem
Donât expect the problem to resolve itself. Ignoring it will only worsen the situation. While few people enjoy confrontation, you canât allow an employee to wreak havoc on your workplace.
Their bad attitude and actions can hurt the morale and culture of your organization. A healthy, productive culture is the key to keeping employees engaged and excited about their work.
If youâre perceived as ignoring a problem employee, others will take note. Some of your top employees, especially if they are taking on extra work to avoid interacting with that difficult employee, could leave.
That bad behavior can spill over to clients as well. If an employee is argumentative and rude to peers, then they very well could take the same approach with your customers.
Bottom line: thereâs too much at stake to ignore the problem.
2. De-personalize the conversation
How you interact with the employee in question is critical to your success.
In your meeting, create a professional and comfortable environment where the employee feels welcome to share what they are experiencing.
Donât go in making negative comments or accusations. The last thing you want to do in a difficult conversation is berate them with their wrongdoings and demand that they stop.
Your goal is a relaxed, free-flowing discussion. Demonstrate that you care but youâre also there to meet the goals of the organization.
Remember: it is a business conversation.
3. Donât make assumptions
Donât jump to conclusions. Have a seek-to-understand conversation. When you open a dialogue with the person, find out if theyâre aware of their behavior and its impact on the team.
If not, tactfully offer specific examples illustrating why you found this meeting necessary. Succinctly and factually describe their behavior and the impact it has on the team.
There may be issues they have been reluctant to discuss. Determine if there may be external, personal factors influencing their actions. The employeeâs personal life may be in turmoil, and they may not realize that itâs apparent at work.
If an employee needs assistance to get their personal life in order, provide them with any resources your company may have, such as an employee assistance program. However, donât assume someone has an issue outside of work thatâs contributing to their behavior. In that case, you may be cutting them slack when you shouldnât be.
Instead, uncover the root cause of the individualâs actions and work to address the issues. Once you get down to the basic problems and what may be causing them, then you can work to resolve those issues.
4. Suggest improvements
Once you determine the problem, then the appropriate tools and resources can be brought to bear.
First, ask them to articulate what support they need to improve their behavior.
Remind the employee that a part of their job performance is measured by how well they contribute to the organizationâs success. Any suggestions for improvement should be objective, measurable, realistic and helpful.
Typical solutions can include an employee assistance program, various training, executive coaching and other tools that might help the employee in areas where there may be gaps.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Tailor your approach to the needs of that employee that allows them the best chance for successfully reintegrating with the team.
5. Follow through
At this point, youâve had the tough conversation, uncovered the underlying issues and implemented a tailored plan. Now you must step back and monitor the individualâs progress.
Establish measurable goals and time frame for completing them. How frequently you check on their progress should also be tailored to the process. The key is that all parties set and agree upon a concrete timeline.
If the undesirable behavior continues, consider disciplinary action. If human resources isnât already involved, now would be the time to loop them in.
Depending on the situation, you could consider transferring the employee to a different team or business unit. However, a transfer isnât something you want to make a habit of because that often doesnât solve the underlying issue. In more extreme or persistent cases, termination of the employee may be the necessary course of action.
These are last-resort measures. The goal is for the employee in question to work through the problem to the satisfaction of all parties.
How does this process look in practice?
Letâs consider Bob, a manager. His brash, results-driven management style differs from the rest of the organization. Thereâs not a relating-to-others bone in his body.
Bob doesnât understand why his team or other teams donât work around the clock to complete their jobs to his specific standards. Many avoid him and donât want to work with him. Morale and productivity are at all-time lows.
Bobâs bosses request a meeting to discuss declining team productivity. They ask Bob if he knows why team output has gone down.
Bob says that he and his team donât see eye-to-eye. They are lazy, he says, and donât have the drive to accomplish their workload in the given time frame, even if that means working nights and weekends to get it done. That leads Bob to lash out at his team for missing deadlines, and recently, his teamâs work came to a grinding crawl.
Bobâs bosses remind him that one of the companyâs core values is to offer employeeâs a healthy work-life balance. And while additional discretionary effort is encouraged when necessary, working overtime shouldnât be the norm.
They thank Bob for his tenacity in pursuit of meeting deadlines but highlight that his team is now in jeopardy of missing a number of important milestones. Bob, they say, shouldnât lose sight of long-term productivity and team cohesion in favor of short-term deadlines.
The leadership team asks Bob if he sees any solutions to the current situation. Bob says he will readjust deadlines and take a softer approach to interacting with his team. He recognizes that heâs damaged team morale, and suggests a quarterly team outing to begin to mend those relationships.
Bobâs bosses agree with these suggestions. They also sign him up for company-sponsored leadership and sensitivity courses.
They set a three-month timeline for Bob to turn around team productivity. At the end of the period, Bobâs colleagues and team members will provide feedback on his progress. And after that time, if morale and team output havenât risen, then strict disciplinary actions will be implemented, as outlined by the leadership team.
In this scenario, Bob understands that his actions were detrimental to the company, but he wasnât shamed or humiliated for his behavior. Instead, the leadership team tactfully talked through the situation and implemented a measurable plan to correct the teamâs course.
If youâre encountering a similar situation, these strategies should offer a path to confidently address difficult employees before the situation gets out of hand. The rest of your employees will thank â and respect â you for it.
Looking for more tips on how to handle employee-related issues in your office? Download our free e-book, A practical guide to managing difficult employees.
hi again, Amanda. I realize I forgot to ask about the day and month, too, when I requested the year that you wrote this article! Whoops! kindest regards, Eliza.
Hi Eliza, Thanks for your feedback! Glad you enjoyed this article. It was published on May 7, 2019.
Good luck on your literature review and thank you for citing us in your references section!
hi amanda. thanks so much for that publishing date! my topic is ‘difficult colleagues’ – ubiquitous, right?! eliza.
You’re welcome, Eliza.
Ha! You definitely have a great deal of resources at your fingertips when researching that topic đ Thank you for your readership!
Hi Amanda. I really enjoyed this piece. Very insightful. I am currently doing a master’s in management and was hoping to quote a couple of your tidbits in my literature review. would it be possible to get the year that you wrote this article in? for my references section? thank you. kindest regards, Eliza.
So after you’ve done all you can and this employee/consultant still continues with negative attitude? then what? And how do you effectively terminate?
Hi Martha, Thank you for your question. These two posts of ours may be of assistance to you – they cover the topics of handling negative employees and terminations. https://www.insperity.com/blog/negative-employees-how-to-keep-one-from-spoiling-the-whole-bunch/ ; https://www.insperity.com/blog/6-steps-you-need-to-take-before-terminating-an-employee-for-poor-performance/
Its right that you as a boss no become a best friend, but in my experience I found that as a boss you need to know very well your team. I mean to know who is my worker as a person over a worker.
Thanks for sharing, Wil – we appreciate your insights.
Handling a difficult employee, is a great task of every manager or employer of labour.
Very true, Dennis. Thank you for your insightful comment and have a great week ahead!