Dealing with difficult employees is a common yet complex aspect of workplace management. It requires a strategic approach, empathy, and sometimes tough decisions. In fact, according to a WorkNest survey, a staggering 63% of employers said they know or suspect that one or more employees have resigned due to the behaviours of a difficult or toxic employee. Given this statistic, it’s crucial that HR teams and managers are equipped to deal with such challenging employees effectively to prevent further negative impacts on team morale, productivity, and overall workplace environment. In this blog, we’ll explore effective strategies to handle difficult employees like John, ensuring that your team remains cohesive and motivated, and your workplace stays positive and productive.

Addressing the challenges of managing difficult employees

Consider this scenario: You are an HR manager at a mid-sized technology firm. Your team has been working tirelessly on a major project with a fast-approaching deadline. Despite the high-pressure environment, most team members are collaborating effectively and maintaining a positive attitude. However, there is one exception – an employee named John. While John is undoubtedly talented, his persistent negativity, reluctance to collaborate, and frequent outbursts are causing widespread discontent within the team. His behaviour is adversely affecting morale, productivity, and the overall work environment.

You’ve tried addressing his behaviour informally, but nothing has changed. Now, his actions are jeopardising the project and creating a toxic atmosphere. As an HR professional, you’re faced with the challenge of managing this difficult employee while maintaining a positive and productive workplace.

How to effectively deal with difficult employees

The term ‘difficult employee’ is often used to refer to a worker who fails to conduct themselves in the workplace in a responsible and/or professional manner. A difficult employee might be one who is lazy, refuses to follow instructions, or who is defensive, obstructive, disruptive, abusive or rude.

Effectively dealing with such employees can be among the greatest challenges that managers face. So how should you approach these difficult team members?

1. Observe, communicate and document

If unacceptable behaviours are observed, managers must ensure that the employee is made aware informally/verbally right at the outset, and that they are given a clear explanation of why the behaviours are unacceptable and what’s expected of them. They should be given examples of the unacceptable behaviour to support the explanations given.

This could be classed as an informal warning or it might even be a step or two before giving any sort of warning, but if the behaviours have reached the stage where an informal warning is needed, it would be advisable for this to be noted in the manager’s records.

If, on further observation, there is an inadequate or no response to the warning, the issue should be raised again and also confirmed by email so that both parties then have a written record of what has been discussed.

2. Listen and understand

Listen carefully to any explanations the employee may provide for the behaviours, to avoid any potential arguments about a breach of a duty of care and/or discrimination.

It could be that they have a neurological condition, diagnosed or otherwise; they may be struggling at home with their caring responsibilities (children, a sick relative and/or elderly parents, for example); they may feel under pressure due to a lack of support or training for their role and be behaving in a way which is out of character; they may not understand how their behaviours are perceived by their colleagues, or they may be being bullied.

Your response will depend on what the employee says to you.

If they have a medical condition, consider obtaining a report from Occupational Health to give you a better understanding of what support they may need (if any) to perform to the standards you need.

If they are struggling with caring responsibilities, they could apply to work flexibly to change their hours or their work location, etc.

If they do not understand their role expectations, further training and support could be offered, and if they are being bullied, you could suggest that they raise a grievance to allow the situation to be investigated properly and addressed.

You cannot carry out a fair process in managing your staff if you have not taken all reasonable steps to facilitate their performance by offering solutions to the obstacles that they say they are facing. Adopting a fair and reasonable process is fundamental to successfully defending any Tribunal claim, should the employee ultimately be dismissed for their ‘difficult’ behaviour.

3. Clarify and explain

Explain your expectations for what you require from the employee and, where possible, agree with them clear and measurable objectives to achieve within a reasonable deadline. If agreement cannot be reached, objectives may need to be set for them.

4. Monitor and manage

If, despite ongoing monitoring and support to achieve the objectives that have been agreed/set, the employee’s behaviour, conduct or performance does not improve, a formal warning process which complies with the organisation’s relevant policies or procedures and with the Acas Code of Practice (CoP) will need to be implemented before any steps can be taken to dismiss.

This is best practice for all employees whether they have more than two years’ service or not, to avoid any potential liability in the event of a discrimination claim. However, it’s worth checking your policies and procedures as they may allow for a reduced (but Acas CoP compliant) procedure to be followed for employees with shorter service.

5. Be consistent

As with any workforce matter, it’s fundamental that a consistent approach is adopted to similarly difficult or unacceptable behaviours. If it is addressed for one employee, it should be addressed when another employee reacts in a similar way (subject to any mitigating factors).

If the behaviour was unacceptable once, it should always be unacceptable, irrespective of an employee’s otherwise valuable contribution to the organisation, and not only when there’s enough time to manage it.

A lack of consistency could be regarded as unreasonable and make an otherwise fair dismissal unfair.

If you need specialist support or training in how to manage difficult employees, contact our team today.