5 Steps to Deal with Difficult Employees

Summary:

This article, written by David G. Javitch, deals with the topic human resources. It was
published on the business-marketing.com homepage.

We all have met difficult people. Either we pass them on the street, meet them in a
super market or simply sit next to them in a cinema. In normal live we can accept their
behaviour. When it comes down to work, difficult people can cause major problems.
Here is a guideline, which shows how to deal with such persons.

First of all it is very important, that you recognise the problem. If you ignore this
misbehaviour, it might create a serious problem.

Secondly intervene as soon as possible. Often the employee doesn't even recognise his
bad manners. So try to find out the exact problem, get some feedback and personally
observe the employee, when interacting with customers or vendors.

The next step is to speak personally to the grouser. Describe the problem and give clear
examples of the misbehaviour. It is very important to discuss in a private area (maybe a
conference room) and to motivate the employee.

After the private conversation you should give the person the chance to improve his/her
skills. Try to minimize the negative and increase the positive aspects. Often a
professional coach can boost someone's attitude to work.

If the difficult employee isn't willing to change his/her behaviour at all you might have to
terminate him/her.

Comment:

Due to the fact, that my parents run an enterprise with round about 35 employees I
have an idea of how hard it is to deal with difficult persons.

My point of view is, that a unmotivated employee can run down a whole team and
cause a lot of troubles.

Furthermore I think, that a worker, who is not willing to change his bad manners should
be terminated immediately. If you don't do this as a manager, the other staff will get
unmotivated and may leaf the enterprise.

So don't focus too much on bad workers. Try to build up a strong team, which leads your
project to success.

(Mark: 3, Read on: 15.01.2011)

Florian Lechleitner
Group 2
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 Term Term in context Explanation / Synonym German translation

irritant ... difficult people can become major irritants. annoyance, irritation der Reizstoff

harass These difficult people harass you ... annoy, stalk belästigen, nerven

grouch ..., they can be grouchy, impolite or simply wrong. complaint, moan nörgeln, quengeln

redeem ... value to the company and possesses redeeming qualities, ... convert, trade in ablösen, ausgleichen

evident ... negative behaviour pattern becomes evident ... clear, obvious einleuchtend, klar

escalate ... this problem will only escalate. rise, go up ausweiten, erhöhen

reluctant ... are therefore reluctant to speak up when a problem arises. unwilling, not keen abgeneigt, unwillig

inappropriate If the employee continues to deny his inappropriate behaviour, ... wrong, unsuitable unangemessen

predicament ... has the responsibility of turning around the predicament. mess , dilemma das Dilemma

determine ... he is aware of any ongoing issues to determine if ... resolve, conclude ansetzen, bedingen

observe ... observe the employee interacting with customers or vendors. watch, study anmerken, betrachten

nevertheless Nevertheless, the manager needs to continue ... however, even so dennoch, trotzdem

allegation ... allow the employee to respond to the allegations. claim, charge die Anschuldigung

HR HR and/or the manager need to provide specific feedback ... human resources die Personalabteilung

terminate ..., then the employee needs to be terminated. end, finish abbrechen, aufhören

Florian Lechleitner
Group 2
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