Don’t forget to trust your instincts either. Free for 30 days. Managers often call these “cuff notes,” meaning that observations are recorded throughout the workday and compiled. We all have difficult people we need to deal with in our lives on a daily basis. They’re destructive, distracting and draining. Also make sure he knows that, if he is uncomfortable with a task or doesn’t know how to complete it, your door is open to him at all times. People with great skills can still be challenging to manage. Their performances decline and they dread coming to work. Talk about it in a meeting, not focusing on any one person. Their “toxic” behavior can sometimes be fixed with the right approach and suitable management style to fulfill their potentials. Give her an appropriate amount of time to speak, but don’t allow her to hijack the whole conversation. But, if a general warning doesn’t work and complaints are building, it’s time to deal with the problem head on. When you’re dealing with them, it’s important to hold your ground and ... 2. If personal problems are not the issue, and it appears that the employee’s personality is to blame, this isn’t an easy fix. It goes over the problem and the proposed solution, combined with your comments and the comments of the employee. Solution: The next time they ask you to finish their … Some of the worst traits of the Bully are issues with authority and a penchant for manipulation. Egomaniacs are the opposite of team players. Sometimes they are quite good at their jobs, but they have personality issues that clash with the rest of your employees and even you. Employees can be the most valuable assets for your business, but difficult employees and toxic employees can both hurt your business in different ways. If the Egomaniac on your team is very talented, there might be a way to make it possible for him or her to work alone or with limited team interaction. It’s possible that this employee doesn’t feel comfortable reporting to this manager, making it difficult for him to bring up problems, therefore leaving him no choice but to dodge the work. There will always be difficult people in every workplace setting. After all, each hour is a paid hour, and there is work to be done. Open positions and employee benefits for Humanity employees. Meet product experts from Humanity at top industry events. Bring the employee in and put together a corrective action plan. However, the majority of the people you will encounter are as honest and responsible as you are. Do that by fostering collaboration. Also, it makes others feel that their input is not valuable, and eventually the more introverted people in the office will stop contributing. In this video, explore the various personality types of difficult coworkers. … You are the boss, assert your authority in this case so that everyone is heard. Check in periodically and make sure the plan is being followed. Another big problem with spotting these type of employees and stopping them from doing their dirty work is that they are usually quite popular among coworkers. Datasheets, whitepapers, and market research from the leader. If you know that there is one person at your workplace being bullied, there are surely more. Here are four types of difficult employees and what to do about them. Someone who is constantly at the center of disputes and problems at work, someone whose presence seems to decrease everyone’s productivity, demotivate even your best employees and put your business at risk? There are a few versions of the Distractor, but they all have one thing in common- they don’t work much. It’s almost like a side job to them. No matter what you do, you can’t make this person happy. She might take on tasks that she isn’t qualified to take on, with the promise that it will be done expertly. Come up with an action plan. The victim is the least accountable person in the office. Chances are, this person is engaging in gossip is encouraged by the willingness of others to listen to it. Leverage Humanity’s AI-powered engine to build conflict-free shift schedules in the cloud. While other problem employees are looking for ways to get out of work, you might find that the know-it-all is overly eager to work, and can take over other people’s jobs if you let her. While they are not fond of doing any work, they are more than happy to let everyone else pick up the slack. In other words, business decisions serve their purposes of patting themselves on the back instead of serving the well-being and success of the business. This should be confronted with compassion. Egomaniacs always try to gain more control. Possibly one of the most challenging employees you might happen to have in your team is the gossip. Managing the Unmanageable: The 6 Most Common Types of Difficult Employees. Get rid of them. But if you do identify such an employee that tends to love stirring up drama but doesn’t affect your team vibe that negatively, feel free to keep them around if they are good workers – just don’t give them any type of leadership role. But they are hard to spot, partly because you will never hear them saying something directly, as they tend to agree with everything their co-workers do or say. Types of difficult employees commonly seen in the workplace 1. A few times might be okay, but when there is a pattern occurring, it is clear that standards of professionalism in the workplace are not being upheld. The Burnout usually insists on doing everything themselves. The Narcissist. Dark-Side Dan This is the employee who’s always negative. How do you deal with these workers when you don’t want to go through the pain and expense of firing them and hiring someone else? Employees who refuse to take responsibility when things go wrong, either blaming others or coming up with excuses, can be … You should show all your employees that you will deal with problems fairly and calmly. You’ve heard this one before: “Hey, I won’t be able to come to work today, I’m sick again!”, “I’d love to help you out, but I am just too busy.”. It’s not what you think. The Invisible man is never there when work needs to be done. And then they turn everyone against each other. They always … To have a Humanity product expert show you how to make the most of the web app, feel free to request a personal demonstration. Almost 75% of employees surveyed in this research had been affected by workplace bullying, either as a target or a witness. The know-it-all shouldn’t be ignored, but she likely wouldn’t allow that to happen anyway. And she isn’t shy about it either. The Distractor doesn’t take the job seriously at all. 5 Types of Difficult Employees You Should Consider Avoiding 1. Let him know that you expect him to complete the tasks that he agrees to do. Sometimes, difficult employees just need more attention from management. The 10 Types of ‘Difficult People’—and How to Deal With Each. You’ve heard it many times, the water-cooler talk, the “you didn’t hear it from me,” caveat. Start documenting the incidents that you see or are reported to you. The biggest problem with this type of employee is that they can create major workplace conflicts without anyone leaving anything that’s going to trace the conflict back to them. It creates an environment of distrust and back-stabbing, it pollutes others’ perception of … But that’s not at all the case. Connect with your team and manage schedule changes in real-time. Difficult employees can reduce employee morale, put a halt on productivity and other employees… Who they are: The lazy employee comes in many forms, but they always have one thing in common: they’re not pulling their weight. Other times you just need to cut your losses and get rid of them. Here are five types of difficult people and tips for uncovering their strengths: THE MAVERICK: Mavericks push boundaries. If you have a bad feeling about an employee, keep an eye on them and their interactions with other. First, the rest of your employees will have to pick up the slack, something that will likely lead to frustration and reduced productivity. This type of employee is often passive aggressive. For instance, if you tell him to follow up with an important client who is somewhat disgruntled, you won’t know that it didn’t happen until that client fires you. The Victim. Warn the employee about the consequences of continuing on with the behavior. Make sure she feels heard and empathized with. According to WBI, bullying is four times more common than both sexual harassment or racial discrimination on the job. An egomaniac, a bully and an invisible man are talking at the water cooler. Dealing with tension when you walk into the office every day is downright … As long as you’re learn to navigate these … Make it clear that you don’t expect from them to sacrifice their personal lives because for the job. Latest news, press releases and company announcements. Here are some of the more common difficult personality types you can find in the office: 1. This is signed by both parties and filed. They also tend to drain everyone else’s energy and enthusiasm. Take on the problem with professionalism and a level head. Offer extra training and improvement plans. Types of Difficult Employees. Learn how to deal with difficult employees… It could be an actual scene at your place of work, which would be no laughing matter. As a business leader, you need to develop the skills to identify these types of people and deal with them in a way that can help you lead your company toward success. Here is how to identify these types of difficult employees and address them before it affects the rest of your workforce. By clicking "Continue", you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Negative comments, gossip or even bullying, are just some of the things that these types of employees bring to your place of work. What do you do what you’ve hired someone and they begin to manifest problems? This behavior creates frustration and tanks productivity for the whole team. They rarely ask for more information on things they know little about and tend to avoid teamwork. Meanwhile, those who are more comfortable with being ignored are slipping willingly into the background. But managing employees, particularly difficult employees, can at times be stressful, upsetting and even isolating. Encourage them to take time off, explain the benefits of taking breaks and assure them that nothing negative will happen if they aren’t in the workplace all the time. Workers’ Compensation and Risk Management, Spotlight Core Values in the Workplace for Future Candidates, Sample Employee Benefits Survey Questions, Professional Employer Organizations (PEO), U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), W/C Coverage desired "Salary" (if W/C desired). They also want everyone else to know just how much they are sacrificing for the job. Image credit: Shutterstock. Make sure that you are providing an open and safe environment at work in which all employees can discuss any issues they might have with other employees, especially issues as serious as bullying. Just like Egomaniacs, the Invisible Man rarely changes. They are always on the phone, taking breaks and generally doing anything but their jobs. It takes one Bully to create a hostile environment for everyone else at the office. Generally speaking, there are three camps a difficult employee may fall into. They are usually friendly and helpful when talking one-on-one. Sometimes this is once a week, sometimes it’s ok to wait six months, depending on the severity of the problem. It depends on how extreme the situation is getting. Learn the story of where we're taking the shift scheduling market. To help you decide the best way to get address the situation, here are five types of difficult employee, and what you can do to manage them: The Lazy One. One of the worst traits of the Egomaniac and similar narcissistic types is that they believe they are unique and talented above and beyond everyone else on your team. These employees can be litigious, so make sure you are well-covered with meticulous record-keeping. Offer the employee some time off, assure her that her work will be covered. They reject any type of outside authority, are hypersensitive to power dynamics and they soon come to resent anyboss who doesn’t grant them enough freedom. According to Workplace Bullying Institute, “Workplace Bullying is repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons (the targets) by one or more perpetrators. This can lead to several problems. Never allow your emotions to make your decisions for you in these cases. In a series of blogs, I took the liberty of introducing six difficult employees. They are often very friendly and are constantly talking about anything other than work in order to distract others from the fact that they aren’t working. If this isn’t possible, termination is your only option. There are four common types of problematic employees: The Overly Emotional Person – This person comes to work each day on the edge and overwhelmed. The Ghost. What are some solutions for dealing with difficult employees? For the best experience, please download our mobile app. He should be vocal about his concerns in a productive way so that the work gets done. Brinkman and Kirschner identify 10 difficult behaviors that represent normal people at their worst: Tank; Sniper; Know-It-All; Think-They-Know-It-All; Grenade Person; Yes Person… The catty gossip. Try talking honestly about their fit and role in your business and see if there is something else they would rather be doing in order to find a way in which he or she can truly contribute to the team. Often this simple concerted effort will even out the dynamic in the workplace. One or more of these employee types are likely to be found in your workplace today. This toxic type of staff member always finds a way to avoid work. Sometimes the Distractor just needs a little bit of guidance to achieve their full potential and bring something useful to the team. In theory, he or she is every employer’s dream, management material. They also get friendly with many co-workers and are always ready to hear complaints. You don’t need to share this practice with the employee. Perfectionists Perfectionism is not inherently a bad personality trait. the only way to handle this type of toxic employee is to fire them, Almost 75% of employees surveyed in this research. For example, they come to work when sick to show how dedicated they are to work and end up getting everyone else sick in the process. He may grumble about his work, but to your face he is friendly and happy to comply. Managing Difficult Employees, Problems and Solutions. They exhibit a lot of arrogance and envy and are usually not capable … Invite the person into a quiet and private space and talk about the issue. Tips, tricks, and product news offered weekly. It’s up to you to find the right way to approach them and present a plan that enables them to focus on themselves without negatively affecting the rest of your staff. Try to avoid this, however, because everyone engages occasionally in office gossip. Brief Operation description/duties of workers. Unfortunately, more extreme versions just cannot be “fixed.” If you find out that an employee has been influencing other employees negatively or creating conflicts repeatedly, the only way to handle this type of toxic employee is to fire them. This will lead to a more comfortable and happier company culture. In every meeting and almost every interaction, complaining and whining ensues. 1. Once they get it, they are no longer interested in their actual jobs or tasks. Employees with sociopathic tendencies can create chaos and destruction on all levels. Fill out the form below to receive a free custom quote for outsourcing HR services. This problem needs to be handled early on, so the employee knows that this behavior won’t be tolerated. VIDEO 0:52 00:52. Tanks: These confrontational folks swing first and ask questions second. Also, make sure you are always clear about appropriate behavior at the office. The Gossip. The Hisser. If you are allowing bullying to continue, you are accepting a toxic culture that leaves the target in a very difficult position.