Hard To Deal with Difficult Employees? | Fusion - WeRIndia

It seems that some people are just born to be difficult. We have all worked with them and most of us dislike them.

Difficult people are easy to recognize, they show up late, leave early, don’t turn their work in on time and have an excuse for every failing.

Naturally, no one wants to work with difficult people.

Difficult employees are typically unhappy or negative in general. Managers need to understand that a negative employee is not just a problem between them and that employee.

The air of dissent affects everyone who’s around it.

Is it hard to deal with difficult employees? No worry – you will be successful in dealing with difficult employees only to the extent that you can make these undesirable behaviors no longer effective for them.

Handle The issue In A Professional Manner

Do not forget that you have several other employees who look up to you. It is important not to create a scene in front of the entire office. Discussing the issues in the presence of others may make the employee either too ashamed or too angry.

Act professionally, and try to address the problem in a private place. Sit down with the employee and see what he has to say about it, rather than insulting him in front of others.

Advise and verbal warning

Get all of the facts and bring that person into your office without making a big scene.  Be honest, and upfront, and discuss what you are seeing and how important it is to have the whole department working in “harmony”.

Simply ask if there is anything wrong, or if there is something happening in the workplace that is causing what is perceived as a person with a bad attitude. There may be some personal issues that they just need to get off of their chest.

If you get a sarcastic, “Nothings wrong with me,” then you need to state that is not what you see.  You have to be strong, but not attacking, and let them know that the behavior shown is not acceptable and needs to improve.

First and second written warnings

Continue to confront until the behavioral problems are eliminated.  The employee might feel like they are under the microscope and you are on a witch-hunt, but this is the only way to fix the problem for good.

It might take some time depending on the situation, but you need to show you will not give in until you are completely satisfied.

The nature of the discipline depends on the issue and HR policies.  The problem may or may not be as clear-cut as job performance or attendance issues.  Again, make sure you document the overall conversation.

You may need to ask for HR’s help as well.  There is nothing wrong with this.  You do, however, need to make sure you have truly done all you can before it gets to this point.

Research about the problem personally

Armed with accurate data and examples, the manager needs to then take this person into a conference room or office–away from others–and calmly address the issue.

To begin, the manager needs to ask the employee if he is aware of any ongoing issues to determine if the difficult person is aware of the problems.

If the employee is “unaware,” the manager needs to describe the unacceptable behavior. The employee might interrupt to disagree or deny the existence of any issues. Nevertheless, the manager needs to continue by giving clear examples of the unwanted behavior.

The manager also needs to allow the employee to respond to the allegations. If the difficult employee refuses to believe that the allegations exist despite the evidence, the most the manager can hope for is an intellectual acceptance of the possibility that a problem exists.

Termination can be the last resort

If all your efforts fail, you know you have termination procedures accordance with your company’s policies as the last option. Workplace is not the place to show continuous tolerance to inappropriate behavior.

Even after several warnings and coaching sessions, If the employee continues to deny his inappropriate behavior and refuses to try to improve the situation, the manager needs to place this person on the fast track towards termination.

You have a company protocol to follow and, if the difficult employee is not addressing his questionable behavior, then you have all the reasons to go ahead with this option.

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