Whether it’s as a boss or a colleague, most of us have encountered a difficult employee at one time or another and know how frustrating this can be. In 1896, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto opined that “80% of outcomes result from 20% of causes” (known as the 80/20 rule). This can very easily apply to the workplace and problem staff members. As well as being annoying, a difficult employee can be damaging to the company and, in this article, we’re sharing four reasons why difficult employees can ruin your team.
An easy guide to the difficult employee
If you’re trying to manage difficult employees, you’ll know that they come in different shapes and sizes but, in this article, we’ll look at the four of the most common personnel issues and how they can damage your team:
- Deflectors
This type of employee is a master of excuses and can seem incapable of taking responsibility for their own errors or shortcomings. The Deflector will often blame a colleague, the department or even the company for mistakes made.
The deflector can cause problems within the team in a number of ways including:
- Employee morale – We’ve all heard the term “one bad apple can spoil the barrel” and this can be the case within a team. When one person is causing tension or not pulling their weight it can make others feel demoralised and distrustful and may lead to increased employee turnover.
- Fractured teamwork – In many cases, colleagues will pull away from a difficult employee, causing a lack of teamwork which, in turn, can negatively impact productivity.
- Wasted time – When an employee constantly blames others it will often result in management having to spend time finding out exactly what happened.
- Non-Team Players
In connection with Deflectors, Non-Team Players are those who are incapable or unwilling to see themselves as part of a group. Instead, these people will focus only on their own best interests and, this can affect the team – and the company by:
- Lack of communication – When a team fails to communicate this will often lead to errors and wasted time. Communication is usually the most vital part of teamwork and a failure here can have serious consequences for the entire team.
- Tension – When one person refuses to act in the interests of the team it can cause resentment and anger in his or her colleagues, thereby damaging the team’s morale. This can also often lead to increased absenteeism as well as a lack of employee retention.
- Reduced productivity – A Non-Team Player is, essentially, a broken link in the chain that makes up your team and, as such, reduced productivity and effectiveness is pretty much inevitable.
- Troublemakers
By far the most damaging of difficult employees, these people seek to actively disrupt and destroy. Often, the troublemaker will enjoy creating problems between other employees and will be resistant to new and existing systems and processes. This can damage the team by:
- Broken relationships – The actions of the Troublemaker may cause fallouts between other members of the team thereby increasing tension and reducing effectiveness. Having a troublemaker on your team can also lead to an environment so toxic that valuable employees may choose to leave.
- Copycat behaviour – When one employee is seen to be “getting away” with a certain type of behaviour, this can lead to others figuring that they may as well do the same thing. Needless to say, this can cause chaos and disruption within the team as a whole.
- Draining management time – In many instances, a Troublemaker’s behaviour is attention seeking and, as such, will tend to take up a lot of a manager’s time and attention. The knock on effect here is that the manager has less time and energy for more important team and business matters.
- Negative personalities
This is probably the trickiest of difficult employees to deal with because their behaviour is usually not intentional. The Negative Personality is an employee who will always look on the pessimistic side of things and will point out problems rather than solutions. A “glass half full” mentality, if you like. This can impact the team by:
- Eroding morale – Whether intentionally or not, a Negative Personality will often bring others down, resulting in damaged relationships and a negative attitude throughout the team. This in turn can increase absenteeism and reduce productivity.
- Damaging customer relations – When a Negative Personality is in a customer facing role, customer relations can be significantly impacted – sometimes to the point of customers being lost. It goes without saying that this could have a disastrous impact on the company.
- Lack of creativity – Negative Personalities tend to avoid risk due to expecting a negative outcome. While this isn’t always a bad thing, it can lead to a lack of creativity which may ultimately hold the team back.
Restoring harmony to your team
In the workplace, a team dynamic is made up of different personalities from different backgrounds and, on the whole, this is a good thing. Problems arise, however, when one or more members of the team display the traits of a difficult employee.
So when it comes to managing this, identifying these employees is half the battle because it can give some insight into the root cause of their behaviour. Tackling difficult employees as early as possible will usually benefit the individual themselves, as well as the team and the company as a whole. When dealing with a difficult employee, always ensure that you are acting within the guidelines of your business – and consult with HR if necessary.
