Managing Difficult Employees

every company or organization has one a difficult employee who rubs colleagues the wrong way at the same time these individuals may be very good at their jobs and strong contributors to the bottom line and while their behavior fall short of harassment or discrimination it nevertheless takes a toll and managers need to intervene welcome to HR over coffee a series from the experts at HR 360 where you'll learn how to effectively hire manage and terminate employees managing a difficult employee is one of the biggest challenges a supervisor can face we're talking about individuals who are not violating company policy or breaking the law but whose demeanor attitude and behavior are off-putting to others an example this might be a high-performing salesperson who is excellent when facing clients but unpleasant when dealing with coworkers a manager might be tempted to minimize this type of situation and hope it improves on its own but inaction is a recipe for trouble left unaddressed difficult employee has a potential to do serious harm to overall workplace morale and productivity and can even drive other valuable employees away from the department or company let's take a look at how to address these circumstances before the damage is done first you must be responsive to the issues and complaints of the offending employees colleagues don't brush them off document the complaints in detail and ask for specific examples of the behavior in question maintain confidentiality to the greatest extent possible and discourage the office rumour mill which can only worsen this situation next address the employee in question this is understandably uncomfortable but it must be done ideally you will speak with the employee immediately following an incident so that the event is fresh in his or her mind be specific about the behavior for example instead of saying you're impatient with John say you stood over John's desk snapping your fingers to get him to finish the sales report and always keep in mind that you're addressing the behavior not the underlying character of the person from there you can follow an established protocol of steps based on a progressive discipline policy start with a conversation or counseling session if the behaviors persist move to a verbal and then a written warning at each step ask the employee if he or she understands the effect of the behavior and spell out the consequences for example this is a verbal warning that you should not stand over John's desk demanding he produce a report it's rude and disrespectful if the behavior continues I'll have to issue a written warning do you understand that document each of these conversations include your notes and copies of any written warnings in the employees personnel file the hope is that the employee will amend his or her behavior long before you need to issue a written warning if however you've reached that point it may be time to escalate the situation and implement an official performance improvement plan at this point you'll want to work closely with your HR department to set specific goals and timeframes for measuring progress as well as consequences for failing to meet the goals you also need to meet regularly with the employee to review and assess finally if all these efforts fail you may be forced to consider reassignment or termination of the employee however absent special circumstances this should generally be the last resort and done only after all other avenues have been exhausted the goal of your efforts is not to dismiss the employee but instead to foster an environment of consideration politeness and civility in the workplace thank you for joining us for HR over coffee to learn more about HR and benefits management including progressive discipline visit us online at HR 360 dot-com and click on the products tab you you

Channel: HR360Inc

Views: 259,657

Rating: 4.781321 out of 5

Keywords: difficult employees, managing difficult employees, human resources, hr needs

Id: DuC-r64fVZA

Length: 4min 20sec (260 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 04 2015