HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (Part 6)

   Dealing With Difficult Employees

 

Dealing with difficult employees is a difficult task.  None wants to work with such types of people.    

 

Easy to recognize: It is not hard to recognize difficult employees.  They are generally impolite, misleading, and unreliable, create nuisance at the workplace, do not do their work on time, and have excuses for everything.

 

Early intervention: It is important to intervene as early as possible.  When left unnoticed or untouched, this problem will only increase.  Sometimes it is seen that management neglects the difficult employees keeping in view their value and proficiency in their works hoping that these employees will somehow stop being troublesome.  But it is quite necessary to deal with such employee and make him or her realize that he is going through the wrong track which may prove hazardous to the organization as well as to him.

 

The manager must make a decision:  Due to many reasons, other employees would be reluctant to speak or complain about the difficult employee.  Under these circumstances, it becomes the manager’s responsibility to take the appropriate action against such employees.  The manager must collect all the relevant data and examples about the concerned employee and then take this difficult employee into a conference room or into any other separate room.  Do not talk with him in presence of the entire staff, doing this may harm your image and position as the person can degrade you openly.  Discussion must be begun on a calm note and the issue of unacceptable behavior can be taken up after that. The manager may ask the person if he is aware of any such issues to determine if the difficult person is aware of the problems. If the person is unaware of such an issue or pretends to be unaware of such an issue then-manager needs to give him details of unacceptable behavior.  The manager must also present examples of such happenings, ensure not to mention names of any other employees.  On this, the difficult person can turn furious. 

 

Listening to the difficult employee: The manager should maintain his cool and he should allow the employee to respond to the allegations leveled against him.   His stand or answer must listen attentively.  Having listened all the matter, the manager must decide judiciously what would be his course of action.

Coaching the difficult employee: If the difficult employee realizes that these unacceptable behaviors are real and experienced by others in the organization, the manager should arrange to coach, the difficult employee is displaying more acceptable behaviors. Likewise, if the difficult employee does not realize and remain impolite then the last remedy is the termination