Running a business is hard work. You’re constantly looking for a balance between productivity and happiness for your employees; even though the two are often linked. Unfortunately no matter how hard you try there is often one employee that has a negative approach.
Discovering how to deal with this employee will make your life much easier.
Get Legal Advice
You need to register with a firm that offers employment law protection. This area of the law can be extremely complicated and changes regularly. Having professional, up to date advice when you need it will make it much easier for you to take the right steps
Check Out Your Employee
If any employee starts to become negative you need to identify if there is an issue at home or in the workplace. The easiest way to do this is to talk to their colleagues discreetly and then ask them directly.
However, this must be in a conversational way; there is no need to create additional friction at this stage.
It is important to do this as soon as you note there may be an issue. To facilitate this you can even make it a regular thing for all employees.
Talk To Your Employee
Once you’ve undertaken your research and know about any background issues it’s time to talk to your employee. It’s important to use specific examples when talking to your employee. This will show them how their behavior is affecting others in the workplace.
Show Them The Right Way
Show the employee and the rest of your staff what behavior you consider is appropriate and then remind all your employees what you think is acceptable.
The easiest way to achieve this is to reinforce the desired behavior by giving positive feedback whenever any employee does something positive.
This may be time-consuming at first but the benefits will quickly become obvious.
Relocation
It is possible that you’ll be able to relocate your negative employee into a different section of your business. It is not advisable to move them to a different premise or to where you already have a negative employee.
But, if there is a possibility of moving them to minimize damage to morale this is an option that should be explored; of course, you can’t force an employee to change their job.
The idea behind this is not to de-motivate or even demote them. You merely want to minimize the damage to staff morale and give yourself an opportunity to help them become positive again.
Know When To Move On
Unfortunately, despite your best efforts, there will be times when you can resolve the issues and your negative employee stays negative or even becomes worse.
In these instances, you’ll need to be prepared to introduce a performance improvement plan. Make sure you comply with the law at each step of the plan and your reviews. If the employee fails to improve and you’re unable to help them then you will be able to go through the relevant process to dismiss them.
Again, it’s essential that you consult your employment specialists to ensure you comply with the law. If you don’t you could find your company in hot water.
By sorting your plan today you’ll be able to confidently and quickly deal with any negative employee and minimize the damage to your other employees and your productivity.
