Changing Course: Helping Difficult Employees Improve
You know that person. The one who always arrives late and leaves early or frequently calls in "sick." Forty-four percent of employees say they have worked with someone who has abused workplace rules, according to a recent study by the Employment Law Alliance. So what options are available for business owners or human resource professionals when dealing with a difficult employee?
If you have a difficult employee with a bad attitude or work ethic, experts say, you'd be wise to quickly address the situation, since negativism in the workplace is contagious. It can quickly affect the entire office staff. Here, we'll outline a course of action that can help you remediate (or at least minimize the impact of) your difficult employees, as well as lower your risk of hostility or legal action.
Nobody's Perfect, So Who Is "Difficult?"
Behaviors displayed by "difficult employees" can include:
- Regular late arrivals and early departures (without your authorization)
- Unexcused excessive absenteeism
- Disrespectful, abusive or rude language towards co-workers, managers and/or customers
- Poor attitude toward the company and/or co-workers
- Constant complaints, gossip or other disruptive behaviors that lessen employee morale
- Poor or unprofessional job performance and/or quality of work
If one of your employees displays any of these behaviors, immediate action is critical. Absences, insubordination, tardiness or problematic behavior can increase if you put off addressing the problem; but, if you begin the remediation process right away, you're more likely to prevent future problems. The first step is to call your HR Business Partner. Your HR Business Partner can recommend management strategies and employee coaching suggestions that have the potential to stop the "difficult" behavior.
Initial Meeting
First, document the employee's problematic behavior as specifically as possible. For example, if your difficult employee makes a habit of working short days without your permission, note their arrival and departure times. Or, if the employee is disrespectful or rude to you or coworkers, note the offensive comments. Documenting these facts from the beginning can help protect you from future risk of liability. It can also help you focus on specific behaviors, rather than generalizations, when you talk to the employee.
Next, initiate an in-person meeting with the employee to discuss the problematic behavior. Your goal is to guide a conversation that's non-confrontational and focused strictly on the documented performance problems. During the meeting:
" Help your difficult employee understand that the goal of the meeting is to have a positive discussion in which you can openly review issues and develop proactive solutions together.
" Solicit feedback from your employee to determine if there is a greater underlying issue causing the problem.
" Collaboratively come up with recommendations for resolving the problem.
" Develop an action plan including tangible expectations, specific measurable goals, a strategy and a timeline for meeting those goals.
" Schedule a follow-up meeting to review if your employee has met the goals.
If possible, have an office manager or HR executive attend the initial and subsequent meetings with the employee.
Following Up
If your employee repeatedly shows resistance, unwillingness or inability to change after your initial meeting, you'll need to further review the situation. Be sure to consult with your HR Business Partner before taking the next step. Conduct follow-up meetings based on the action plan you developed in your initial meetings, and carefully monitor the employee's behavior. Documentation is critical at this stage, so be sure to keep detailed notes on:
" The employee's improvement or continued problematic behaviors
" Any warnings or actions you take to alert the employee
" Follow-up meetings you hold with the employee
If several attempts resolve the employee's problematic behavior have failed, you may need to consider termination.
Termination
If you decide that termination of employment is the only solution to an ongoing problem, immediately consult with your HR Business Partner prior to taking action. Following the advice of your HR Business Partner, schedule the final meeting with the employee. During the meeting, fully explain the guidelines you used in deciding upon termination; a thorough, fact-based explanation can help alleviate possible hostility on the employee's part. Your discussion should include detailed information about the ongoing pattern of disruptive behavior (excessive absenteeism, quality of work, etc.).
At this point, the employee's personnel file should include accounts of specific incidences of poor performance, summaries of the meetings you held with the employee and other company-initiated efforts to correct the behavior, as well as formal warnings of probation or dismissal. This is important, because discharging a poor performer without offering constructive feedback and documentation increases the risk that the employee may react with hostility or through legal action.
In the end, dealing with a difficult employee requires a large dose of patience. Managers need to communicate consistently with a difficult employee about specific areas for improvement, offer ongoing feedback as to whether change has occurred and document these conversations in writing for the employee's permanent file. And remember, you are never left alone in these difficult situations. Your HRBP is with you each step of the way.
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