Employees Behaving Badly: What’s The Worst That Can Happen?
It’s never wise nor productive to become one of those bosses that are distrusting and even actively hard on employees just because you’re aware that sometimes they can be the root of the problem. However, there’s an important lesson for any employer to learn: when bad employees are given free reign to do as they like, it can have disastrous consequences for the business. Here are a few of the ways that a few bad apples can spoil the bunch, how to keep your eye out for it, and what to do when it happens.
Complain, complain, complain
It might not be actively malicious or harmful, as some of the other examples will be, but when a team member feels they have a grievance that hasn’t been addressed or has been addressed but not to their desired outcome, complaining can become an issue. Everyone has a right to bring up issues that affect them in the workplace. But complaining to everyone and anyone without going through the proper channels can really start to affect morale across the whole team. Colleagues may be less likely to want to cooperate or communicate with that person and information can suffer. It can bring a downer on everyone’s workday, so deal with your chronic complainers by asking them to address any grievances they have directly, with your or any HR system that might be in place. Ask them if they have any fair suggestions for how a problem should be handled and, if they’re being unreasonable or all else fails, call out the criticism.
Clock-watching
Employees can be unproductive for all kinds of reasons. A bad morning. Distractions in the workplace. The failure of the employer to make their workload easier to deal. Poor company culture. But when there are employees who seem to get through the day without seemingly any work done or progress made, it’s more likely you’re dealing with a slacker. Slackers should little-to-no tolerance. They are essentially parasites, feasting on your resources without giving anything back for the investment. Make it clear you can see a productivity issue and, first of all, ask them if there are any issues with their working situation they can address. If there aren’t, start giving them specific goals or KPIs to meet per day or week. Make your standards for work exceedingly clear and don’t be afraid to discipline them if they fail those standards.
The danger of theft
Now, to get onto more serious topics. Theft is an aspect of loss in almost all retail stores, and it can often be attributed to employees, not just customers. Disgruntled employees can start turning to taking your stock, so it’s up to you to protect. Fitting security systems to the stock rooms can help, but you can also get a better idea of the issue, control who has access to stock, and more with inventory systems like Inflow Inventory. That way, you can get a real idea of what the problem is. Otherwise, employers might not be aware that there is an inventory loss problem until it’s having serious effects on their profits.
Criminal and violent behavior
When a disagreement with an employee or a disagreement between coworkers is allowed to fester unchecked, it can grow into truly dangerous territory. It is not unheard for businesses to be vandalized by ex-employees, or for conflicts to grow to the point of intimidation, harassment, and even physical violence. Paying a close attention to employee relationships can help you see the warning signs of a disagreement that perhaps a moderating presence can help with. But should an employee or ex-employee threaten violence or criminal damage, give them no leeway. File charges and hire a security team like TSE – Tri State Enforcement to keep an eye out for the immediate future. The safety of your employees comes above all else, so no threats to them, even seemingly flippant ones, can be taken lightly.
The blow to your rep
Even if there’s no immediate danger of criminal retaliation, there’s a lot that a disgruntled ex-employee can do to harm your business. One such dangerous predicament is when they take to the internet, leaving bad reviews of the business, bad employer reviews, and such, damaging your reputation. If that happens and you can prove slanderous reviews, you can have them removed. Digital reputation consultants can offer a lot of help in repairing the damage done by highlighting more positive reviews and news and giving them prominence on web searches, too.
The vicious cycle
The damage that one or two bad apples can do goes beyond their own actions and agency. It can affect employers and managers’ behavior, too. For instance, a grievance may involve some legal action, and this can upset, offend, or anger some employers. But if you’re in that situation, you have to do what you possibly can to avoid the temptation of retaliation. You can’t terminate them, discipline them, or treat them any differently if they’re still employed and seeking legal action. Employee retaliation is against the law, itself, and can only end up harming your initial defense against allegations they might otherwise be making.
Missing the real problems
What’s more, how you choose to deal with problematic behavior can end up impacting the whole business. A point we’ve brought up more than once is how important it is to actually hear out grievances. Employers that have had bad experiences with excuse-makers or whiners might start missing the legitimate issues other coworkers face by closing their ears to criticism. The best way to solve this is to follow the tips of Your Thought Partner and start creating proper feedback channels. Give people an official, legitimate way to air any grievances and let them be heard. Otherwise, the only thing growing in the business will be dissatisfaction and disenfranchisement.
Your employees are human, at the end of the day, and where there are humans, you can be sure there will be drama. The tips above can help you manage and preemptively spot that drama. Being aware of it is the key to mitigating the damage it can do to your business.