Managing Problem Employees

Ask Richard Davis, a veteran human resource director and consultant, how often the issue of problem employees comes up for the many businesses he has advised, and the answer will come quickly and succinctly.

“Daily.”

And, he said, managers must effectively address this issue because problem employees have a way of multiplying through the attrition they take on good employees.

“When you look at people who leave organizations, they are often good employees,’’ Davis explained. “Normally they quit because they get tired and frustrated with working with poor performers or problem employees. So you don’t lose your poor employees; you lose your good employees.”

Davis has the experience to know. He is vice president of Human Resources for Barnes Healthcare, a large HME provider headquartered in Valdosta, Ga. Before that, he was for many years a human resources consultant and management trainer. His career started in operations, and he moved into employee relations with Support Systems International, which is now Hill-Rom. He is experienced in recruiting, interviewing, strategic planning, conflict resolution, mergers and acquisitions, management training and operations management.

Here are his answers to questions about how managers should deal with problem employees:

How do you define a problem employee?

A problem employee is someone who consistently acts in a way that is not beneficial to the company. It is someone who fails on a daily basis to look for ways to maximize their performance to help the company. They’re basically pushing paper around and doing as little as possible to get a paycheck. They are employees who exhibit consistent behavior of low engagement, low motivation and poor performance.

Now, extraordinary employees can also have a performance issue arise, and you have to address it. But it’s not something that happens habitually. Maybe there is a problem at home that has impacted their work life. But they are not habitually poor employees.

What is your approach to dealing with problem employees?

I am very fortunate that I have actually managed operations. So my approach from human resources is exactly the same as when I managed people.

First and foremost, it all comes down to hiring the right people. That’s the first step every company should focus upon. Many companies hire somebody because they need a body, but they should instead use time, effort and tools that are available to hire the right person to fill a position.

The second step is to establish realistic expectations for a job early on in the employment relationship. Expectations must be measureable, specific and objective. Then, you get agreement and buy-in from the employee. Sometimes it’s a matter of putting it down in a job description and having the employee sign it so they fully understand the expectations.

Once that’s done, it’s being disciplined as a manager to monitor performance and provide consistent and frequent feedback, whether an employee is meeting expectations or not meeting expectations. And if they’re not meeting expectations, you must have frequent communications on things that an employee needs to improve.

That’s where the term progressive discipline comes in. If you have a problem employee who is habitual, then you must go through a process where you start with a verbal conversation about not meeting expectations. Then you go to a written warning, to a second written warning, to a final warning—those types of steps lead toward termination, if they don’t improve.

But it’s got to start with communicating very specific expectations for the job and then being consistent with the feedback on meeting or not meeting expectations.

Say a manager has failed to do these things, and down the line decides that someone is a problem employee. What then? 

They call me and want to get rid of them right away. My first question to the manager is: “Will it be a surprise?” And if the employee is surprised to learn they have a performance issue, then that manager has not done his or her job helping that employee improve or realize their employment is in jeopardy.

The perfect example is with attendance. That’s probably the No. 1 issue. There’s a direct correlation between poor and problem employees and their attendance record. Somebody will be absent or late, and managers will talk about it, but they won’t keep track. Then all of a sudden they decide they can’t do this anymore. I ask, “What have you done about it?” We have a policy giving them a step-by-step process for attendance problems—so the manager can ensure they are structured and consistent in dealing with attendance for all employees.

So, an employee missing a lot of work is a red flag?

That’s a warning sign. Another warning sign is when an employee consistently fails to get the work done and has excuses about why it’s not getting done. 

All of this is kind of covered under the umbrella of employee engagement. How engaged is the employee in the job? And if they are not fully engaged, it then affects their attendance, performance and relationships with all other staff members. It has a negative impact on engaged employees if you have a problem employee who has that negative aura.

Q: What legal considerations should managers keep in mind when dealing with problem employees? 

A:

First, managers must be consistent in how they treat every employee. Second, always make sure you manage the behavior, not the person. It’s like you never tell your child “You’re bad.” You tell the child they did a bad thing. You kind of have to manage employees the same way. You deal with the behavior; not the person.

I try to keep all of our managers up to date on relevant employment laws are and how they pertain to their daily interactions with employees. Managers can get in trouble by doing or saying the wrong thing. It can actually start in the hiring process by asking improper questions.

Q: How tough have things gotten in your dealings with problem employees?

A:

Probably the worst is having somebody get very belligerent. There have been times when I’ve come very close to having to call a police officer to have them escorted off the property. I never want to put one of our managers in an unsafe position.

On the other hand, I’ve had people being terminated tell me they agreed with the decision and that they understood why the decision was being made.

Q: Have you had much success in turning problem employees around?

A: 

Yes, I have. I’ve seen situations where an employee’s performance was different from one manager to the next. I was once told by a manager whose position I was assuming that I was going to have to fire a poor employee. Well, I said, “I’ll make that decision for myself.” And the worker turned out to be an extraordinary employee. They were just managed poorly by the previous manager.

At Barnes, we use assessment tools in our selection process and management of employees. The assessment tools help us understand the core behavior of an employee so we can better manage them. If I’m managing nine people, I’m probably going to have nine different core behaviors. Instead of having them conform to the way I am, I need to make sure I manage them according to their core behavior. If I understand that, I will be more effective in managing the performance.

For example, my wife is a CPA, and one of the characteristics we measure is sociability. She is a very social person, but when she works, she’s very task oriented. You can put her in a room with a box of files at 7 a.m. and you may not see her until 7 o’clock at night. And she will have had no contact with anybody. She’s cool with that. If you try to do that to me, I’d probably be in a fetal position when you came in. I need interaction with people.

If I’m managing her, and come in all day asking how she’s doing, it’s going to grate on her day in and day out. She may leave. If I know that about her behavior, I’m going to manage her accordingly. I would ask her a good time for us to meet during the day, and we come up with a mutually agreed upon time. My management would be accommodating her behavior.