7 More Difficult Employee Types and How to Manage Them — Part 2

The last post on this topic introduced the concept of dealing with difficult employees by first classifying their specific difficulty and then taking specific action based on their classification. The seven were named Unethical, Sullen, Lethargic, Know-It-All, Always-Late, Underperforming and Troubled. Part “1 of 3” discussed the issues and solutions for Unethical and Sullen. This post discusses Lethargic, Know-It-All, and Always-Late. Lethargic: This is the “I’m going to do as little as possible to still keep my job” person. One of the best ways to handle people like this is to give them tasks that can be specifically measured in regard to quality and quantity. This approach allows you to • Benchmark their current volume of work • Objectively evaluate their increase or decrease in work output • Take appropriate positive and negative actions as needed Know-It-All: These people are typically hard working, smart and do a good job. This is a good thing. The problem is that they can drive their peers crazy and cause tension within the department. This problem can generally be fixed using the following steps 1. Occasionally have an honest discussion with the person 2. Ask them to quiet down a little bit 3. Ask them to treat fellow employees with more tolerance and respect As a quick story, I once had a know-it-all type person working for me. The interesting thing was he did seem to know it all. He was a brilliant computer programmer. The problem was he wanted everyone to know it. To solve the problem I did two things. First, I talked with him about how to properly mentor less knowledgeable programmers. Second, I modified his role to include mentoring-type activities. Because of the mentoring lesson, the staff found him to be helpful, rather than boastful. Because of the job change, he was able to provide real value to the members of my team and the department in general. He also loved his new role and worked hard to enhance his mentoring skills. Always-Late: On occasion, everyone comes in late, has a long lunch or leaves early. But every so often, someone abuses the privilege. They seem to • Always come in fifteen or twenty minutes late • Continually take two hour lunches • Always be leaving early Not only are you not getting your money’s worth from this person, but their lack of respect to the organization’s schedule can have a very disruptive effect to the rest of your team, particularly if your other team members are working long hours. I generally try to correct this problem by • Having a discussion with the person • Telling the person that their actions are unacceptable • That they must work the required hours If their schedule doesn’t improve, then work with your manager and Human Resources (HR) to write a formal reprimand. This reprimand should include the specific actions to be stopped and the consequences if their actions continue. Generally, you will find that HR is very skilled in writing these types of letters. The primary advice and takeaways are to know that: • With Always-Late employees, assign work that can be measured in regard to quality and quantity • With Always-Late employees, also have a discussion and state the importance and your insistence on working the appropriate hours • With Know-It-All employees, have occasional discussions with them to ease their overbearing manner This is continued in “The Seven types of difficult employees – Part 3 of 3”.