Running a business is hard enough without having to deal with difficult employees. But when you or your managers notice that one or more of your employees is having behavior issues, it’s important to put a stop to them before things go on for too long. Issues with employees can be detrimental for businesses if not taken care of quickly, especially if those issues affect the customers or relations between other employees. To help you handle these tough situations when they arise, here are three tips for dealing with employee behavior issues.
Recognizing Common and Harmful Employee Behaviors
Before behavior issues even crop up, you can educate yourself and your managers about certain personality traits to be on the lookout for that could lead to employee behavior issues. While these types of behaviors don’t always mean there’s a larger issue at hand, these behaviors are common when workplace issues do come to fruition.
According to Baird Brightman, a contributor to FastCompany.com, some of the most toxic employee behaviors that could lead to issues within your company are aggressiveness, narcissism, disorganization, stubbornness and more. If you notice these personality traits exploding out of an employee in an inappropriate manner, be prepared to have to deal with this issue.
Know How to Address the Issues
Once a problem has presented itself, it can be difficult to confront the responsible party, especially if you feel that their behavior may be a bit unstable. To help with this, Guy Harris, a contributor to BusinessRelationshipRX.com, recommends addressing these issues with your employee by being as prepared for the conversation as possible, being brief yet specific when talking about the issues, and remaining calm regardless of how your message is received. By doing these things, hopefully the employee will realize the error of his or her ways and be willing to rectify the damage.
Execute A Plan For the Future
To ensure these problems don’t continue after you’ve addressed them with your employee, it’s a good idea to help them create a plan for how to progress past this in the future. Erika Andersen, a contributor to Forbes.com, suggests documenting everything that is said and decided upon during your confrontation with the employee and then setting up consequences that will have to be brought about if this behavior doesn’t resolve itself. Taking these two steps will help to protect your business if the issue gets worse and you’re forced to either take legal action or terminate the employee for their behavior.
Although having a problem employee can be a difficult thing to manage, you can successfully address the issue and move on in a productive way if you handle the situation correctly. To ensure you can do this, use the tips mentioned above if you have employee behavior issues you need to deal with.