Why We Have So Many Problem People at Work

Lessons from Yvonne

Each day when I walked through the front door, I immediately looked to see where Yvonne was.  As soon as I made eye contact I would shout out, “Good morning, Yvonne!”  Then I would quickly run in the opposite direction.

 Yvonne was the type of employee that co-workers would ask, “what time are you going to lunch?” just so they could request a different lunch hour.  Nobody from her department wanted to be around her.  Even employees from other departments would clear the way when Yvonne was in the area.

Yvonne’s reputation was kept a secret from me when I first took over as the new manager of the discount store outside of Cleveland.  The secret did not take long to reveal itself.  With every project our department took, Yvonne would offer a countering opinion as to how it should be done or as to why whatever was suggested would end in failure.  She constantly criticized others, expressed disgust, and would do what she wanted regardless of company vision or team needs.

Her bitterness and anger grew during the first few months I was at the store, eventually leading to the point she began calling our regional office to let them know how poorly the store was being managed. The Regional Human Resources Manager would listen to her at first, but by the fourth or fifth call he could take no more.  One day, after talking with Yvonne, he immediately called Greg, the District Manager, with the message that he was never to hear from Yvonne again.  He added that Greg could not fire her or seek retribution in any way.

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The new Yvonne

When Greg arrived at my store, he had a brief fact-finding discussion with me before calling Yvonne into the office.  I am not sure what happened in their discussion, but the two people that entered the office were not the same two people that emerged from the office an hour later.  Greg appeared with the demeanor of one who had discovered a hidden talent.  The old Yvonne never came out of the office.

Yes, you read it correctly – the old Yvonne never came out of the office!  Instead, a new employee had taken over Yvonne’s body. This new employee would reveal herself over the next weeks and months to be the person that could be counted on to encourage others.  People started asking Yvonne which lunch hour she was taking, then they would ask for the same lunch period so they could join her.

Each morning when I walked through the front door, I immediately looked to see where Yvonne was.  As soon as I made eye contact I would shout out, “Good morning, Yvonne!”  Then I would quickly run to her and ask how her day was going.

Lessons from Yvonne

Yvonne had transformed from the person everybody ran FROM to the person that everybody would run TO!  The immediacy of the transition was amazing.  How did it happen that an employee had undergone a 180ochange overnight?

Greg discovered that several years prior, Yvonne had been told she could someday become the department manager if she worked hard enough and proved herself.  She fulfilled her part by becoming a very hard worker, but the current manager had no plans to retire or transfer.  Yvonne set her sites on new stores opening in the area, but she was never approached to manage one.  Her demeanor slowly began to change.  She needed a new strategy.  She decided to prove herself by showing she knew better than anyone else how to do things.  This led to her bitterness and rage.  It was not until the “transformation” interview with Greg that she was told management requirements had changed.  She was no longer eligible for a manager’s position because she did not meet the new requirements.

Why do we have so many problem employees?

Problem people can only survive in a culture where manipulators, liars, oddballs, and others are permitted to exist.  In virtually all these corporate cultures the problem people are not only tolerated, they are actually rewarded for their difficult behaviors.  With Yvonne, we had created her problem performance by giving her a promise only to silently renege.  We had created a “Dissenter”, someone who dissents in every decision because they want to prove they have better ideas or protect themselves should an idea not work.  Even if the idea they dissented works, they can claim it only worked because their dissention surfaced shortcomings in the idea.

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In retrospect, we realized we had actually been fueling Yvonne’s behavior by rewarding her for it.  When there was an unpopular task that had to be done, we would bypass Yvonne because we did not want the confrontation.  If she reported late or took a long break, we said nothing because we did not want the confrontation.  If she decided she wanted a vacation when we were already shorthanded or busy, she got it because it was not worth fighting about.  Yet when it was time for raises, she got the same raise as the people that were working smarter, harder, and faster.  I have witnessed this same type of treatment of problem employees at company after company.

Lesson learned

A couple of years after I left the store, it was discovered that Yvonne had cancer.  Unlike the cancer of problem behavior, this cancer could not be addressed through conversation and understanding.  Her health caused her to retire and leave the wealth of friends she had made.  Her retirement party was a special event as customers, co-workers in her department, and others from other departments came together to wish her well.  Memories of the “old” Yvonne had long since vanished, buried by her positive attitude, willingness to help others, and genuine concern for helping others.  Yvonne, once a problem employee, had become the department’s biggest asset.

In my career I have met many people like Yvonne.  Each one could be “fixed”.  It is only a matter of wanting to “fix” them more than wanting to replace them.  It requires the ability to see beyond the present behavior into the heart of a human being.

Why terminating problem employees does not work

Some think the most effective way to deal with a problem employee is to follow the process required to terminate them.  However, this method has a high failure rate and is very costly.  Here are just some of the reasons:

·       Root causes are not eliminated.  When we take the approach of eliminating the employee we are only addressing cultural symptoms or compensating for poor leadership skills.  The culture that allowed the employee to be a problem must also be examined and corrected.  Failure to do so will breed more problem employees.

·       The expense is staggering.  Turnover of any employee is very costly.  The Missouri Employment Development Center estimates that at minimum wage, it costs $3,750 to replace an existing employee.  When working with higher paid employees, the costs go up dramatically.  Bliss and Associates estimates the actual cost of replacing a worker is 150% to 200% of their annual salary.

·       Morale deflates.  During the period required to document the problem behavior, the difficult employee has the power to enlist sympathetic coworkers to their cause.  This results in immeasurable lost productivity.

·       Inadequate new employee selection.  Many times an organization thinks that by replacing an underperforming employee that will solve their human resources shortcomings.  The company will bring in two or three candidates and use a multi-step interview process to select the best one.  Unfortunately, the interviewers will overlook the candidate’s inferiorities, concentrating on the deficiencies of the terminated employee.  For example: let’s say we terminated an employee for excessive absenteeism.  When the new candidates are interviewed, screeners will subconsciously place too much emphasis on the candidate’s past attendance records, missing other aspects such as integrity, work ethic, and reliability.  Those character traits cannot be determined conversationally, they can only be identified using scientifically developed and validated assessments.

Five Basic Rules for “Fixing” Problem Employees

The good news is that problem employees can be “fixed”.  Here are five simple rules for “fixing” problem employees.

·       Employees will not change, but they will grasp a new vision.  Although Yvonne’s transformation was extremely dramatic, it is unusual.  Yet it proves that true change is possible once we realize it isn’t about changing an employee – it is about understanding an employee.  Yvonne was not “fixed” until Greg helped her capture a vision of a better working relationship.

·       Everybody wants to do a great job.  People want to look in the mirror at night and be able to say, “I was a success today!” They want their friends and relatives to be proud of them and their success.  The problem is many people have been disillusioned by life’s experiences.  The successful manager needs to identify the employee’s motivators in order to return them to the attitude of daily success.

·       Everybody is loved by somebody.  No matter how difficult it is to deal with problem employees, it still needs to be done.  The secret lies in realizing that everybody has a lovable quality.  Identify this quality, or cultivate a desire to seek it, and you will do well in helping the problem employee.

·       Well-defined boundaries prevent wars.  Just as well-defined national borders prevent wars, well-defined workplace boundaries slow the development of problem employees.  Non-negotiable boundaries need to be clearly set and fairly enforced, problem employees can be contained.

·       The Lone Ranger never rode alone. Tonto was the Lone Ranger’s faithful companion, ready to help the other in time of need.  The effective manager needs to recognize that sometimes they need to have a “Tonto” at their side.  Virtually all great leaders have sought out a coach or mentor.

About the author

When an insurance salesperson wrote to the St. Petersburg Times about the boy selling newspapers in front of the Publix Market across the street from his office he said, "Watch that boy, he's going places." Neither he nor I could have imagined what that journey would be.

The places would be 43 states, two U. S. territories, and 22 countries on four continents. It would involve working for small businesses to Fortune 500 companies as a direct employee or consultant in retailing, manufacturing, and construction. It would include meeting with governmental officials, royalty. C-level executives, owners, and front line employees.

Rick’s leadership, knowledge, and experience has helped hundreds of companies improve processes, increase sales, and add stability to a growing bottom-line..