Dealing With Difficult Employees
We are a lucky company to have a well-knit group of professionals working for us. But that does not mean we do not get the odd black sheep in the herd. As soon as one of our customers complains about the behavior or attitude of our professionals, soul searching starts. We try to find the root cause of the problem and restore sanity. The solutions are rather quickly found because we have been dealing with such employee problems for many years now.
Employees can be your biggest strength and yet they can be your worst enemy too. But every one of us may be termed as difficult at some time or the other. Before everyone knows us, we are termed as “difficult to work with”. Leaving the hand of employees at this stage is a very easy decision, but to work with him/her and help the person become a useful resource for the company needs some strategizing.
Categories of Different Employees
There are different types of “difficult employees”, let us analyze some of them:
- Arrogant Employees: There are some people who have this notion that they know it all. It is the dark side of their character and has the potential to take them down. Such employees will not want to take help from anyone and feel that everyone around them is less qualified.
- Whining Employees: Some of your employees will find the negative side of everything. They will be the most complaining lot in your organization. Complaining of them is not the last resort; rather it is the first thing they can think of.
- Demanding Employees: There will be some employees who cannot be satisfied ever because they are too demanding. They want special treatment, special policies, special shifts and everything special. They are horror brought to life for the company.
- Uncooperative Employees: Some employees in this group would be present in your organization too. Whether they belong to phone answering services or technical support, they will not pay heed to the deadlines or any threats. They will work at their own merry will.
- Inconsistent Employees: You do not know what you will get from this lot of employees. They will tell you one thing and then go on to do another. They will also deny doing a thing if it is proved wrong.
- Lazy Employees: Such employees clearly have very little ambition. They are happy with the way they are. They will not work harder than their capability. Keep those aside, getting some responsible work out of them poses a challenge! They don’t care about anything.
Strategies to Overcome the Difficulty
- Do not Label People: There are many senior managers who tend to form a conception about an employee after a few discussions. They will form a mindset and then adjust their behavior to the employee likewise. This is not desirable. The categories suggested above are broad categorizations. The person you are working with might not behave the same way every day. So, all communications should be free of any judgment.
- Avoid Quick Responses: When you confront any of the above group of employees you will have a tendency to get back at them quickly. Though, this is a luring prospect, but not the right one. Withhold yourself, because the answers you give may come back to haunt you later. Try to separate the person from the behavior. This is the way we do things when we have known someone for many years. Take time to steady yourself, cool down and then answer.
- Do Not Wish for Change: When you come across such employees, you keep on wishing. You wish that they were more responsible, more positive, more reliable and so on. Wishing these virtues will not make them come out as a different person. It will be a mere loss of your mental energy and lead to frustration. This frustration may further hamper your relationship with the employee. Difficult employees are not so on purpose, so it is important to understand their behavior and make changes likewise.
- Have Open Mindset: If you form a negative mindset about someone, the gates of your mind shut down automatically. You seem to grow all the negative concepts about the employee. This is wrong! You should always listen to the employee with an open mind; let the person explain himself/herself. Support the person when needed. There are many instances where the difficult employees have been converted into ideal employees, through support. Support gives any employee the willingness to work harder.
Every person has a dark trait to his/her character. It is the basics of Psychology. You cannot do much about the behavioral problems; all you can do is motivate the employee to attain your goals. At VCallGlobal we recruit experienced professionals. If there are any behavioral problems with the employees we make sure they do not hamper the process our clients have entrusted us with. Whether it is telecom billing, customer relationship management or data analytics services, we make sure that the most responsible, hardworking and quick thinking employees are working on a process.