Managing Problem Employees: Strategies for New Hires, Critics, and Resisters (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: Problem employees unavoidably appear in most workplaces and small businesses aren't exempt. At times, the problems are apparent, like attendance issues or a failure to perform accurately. Other times, a workplace may host a problem and you might not quickly discern the cause. Here is our take on three types of problem employees and how to get the most out of them. The New Hire As a rule of thumb, it can take three months on the job for new hires to get a feel about how everything operates, who does what, how to perform their job, and their role in the success of your business. As a result, they constantly look for help from supervisors or co-workers or waste a lot of time doing research. Worse yet, they fumble around and end up delivering a poor quality deliverable that has to be redone. They can't perform their duties independently without excessive supervision or draining the time of other staff members. So how do you handle them? In a fast-paced work setting, onboarding fresh hires efficiently can be a challenge. However, it's worth the effort. Here are a few things you can do. For starters, conduct an orientation session that provides basic information like an outline of the company, history, and structure. Give them an overview of organization charts, contact info, building layouts, and mission statements. Then, share key behavioral policies like dress codes, incident reporting, internet usage, and the like. Show them resources, guidelines, and rules for doing work at the organization, too. Every new employee will have a gap, a lack of knowledge, training, skill, or whatever. The Critic The critic employees are quite common. This worker can't find anything positive to say. They focus only on seeing what's wrong and sharing that opinion with anyone who will listen. This type of employee comes across as an annoying know-it-all. They seem to find pleasure in pointing out any issue, mistake, or glitch, whether real or perceived. The critic presents a challenge in morale, teamwork, and meeting deadlines. They may think their feedback is helpful, but instead alienate themselves from teammates, managers, vendors, and potential customers. How do you handle them? When the situation merits it, management should pull them aside to commend them for a negative comment that was actually helpful. Thanking them for their contribution should be followed up by counseling them on improving the tone or content of that message. You should also emphasize your expectations in performance appraisals for this employee to make positive workplace contributions while reinforcing that identifying a negative should only be the first step. They should also put effort into finding a potential solution. Creating an environment of positivity results from allowing every employee to feel they can air concerns and issues, to have the tools and empowerment to resolve problems, and to think and act independently. The Resister Regardless of age or gender, this employee doesn't want things to change. They've been doing things the same for a long time and don't see the need to do their job any differently. The Resister refuses to use new hardware or software. This type won't follow new processes or methods. They reject the new way clinging to the old. How do you handle them? Change can be threatening when your expertise in the old way is no longer pertinent. If applicable, tell them that, with time, you fully expect them to be the subject matter expert of the new way. If it would appeal to this individual, ask them to go through the new software or process and provide feedbacks on bugs, errors, or other problems. Be prepared to show them how the change will ultimately make their work easier or faster. In essence, reassure that change is good. For more insights, visit our site and connect with us. Let's work together in building something phenomenal.