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Why do we tolerate bad employees?

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Disruptive employees can have serious negative effects

It is rare that employees are actually toxic individuals

Whilst a tiny minority of employees simply attempt to undermine others and gain as much as they can without putting in the work themselves, the vast majority of workers whom we consider to be ‘toxic’ are actually just disruptive.

‘Disruptive’ could mean loud, chatty, easily distracted, frequently away from their desk, unprofessional or unproductive…and they could be perfectly nice individuals – they don’t need to be a traditional ‘bad apple’ to be considered a serious issue for team productivity.

As an employee, it’s clear when a colleague is not pulling their weight, which leads to one of two things:

  1. the frustration of committing real effort only to witness someone evading their own workload
  2. others being pulled into the same unproductive behaviour pattern, significantly slowing-down overall progress

Whilst only a small number of employees are actually toxic, the vast majority of workers are not as engaged in their jobs as they should be. According to research by Gallup, 67% are either not engaged enough or actively disengaged altogether.

What does this imply for organisations?

The same study by Gallup found that having a disruptive team member can have significant negative effects on the overall workforce. If your company is in the bottom quartile for worker engagement, the potential effects are:

  • 69% higher rates of absence
  • 39% more shrinkage
  • twice as many safety incidents than a company in the top quartile

So why are they still employed?

The majority of employees are continually frustrated that those not putting in the effort are rarely disciplined for their inactivity and lack of engagement. There are several reasons why this may be the case:

Firstly, some employers are simply not involved enough in the day-to-day running of the businesses to notice that one employee is dragging others down. 50% of employees have given up on hopes that their boss will ever have an interest in their work (and have actually left the company as a result) whilst 60% state that they lack engagement with their boss. Low engagement with the team – and a lack of interest – can easily lead to wrongdoings going unseen.

Secondly, it may be that the boss is actively protecting the disruptive employee. Usually, this individual is bold and talkative; whilst others try not to engage with the boss for fear of being chastised, the misplaced confidence in a disruptive employee’s personality is also what renders them endearing, securing their position as a fixture of the office.

What should leaders do?

For good bosses, the solution should be simple: listening to employees. Regular performance reviews, chats about productivity and anonymous employee surveys empower informed decisions and encourages openness and honesty.

Yes, said ‘disruptive’ employee may be a good person, but are they adding value to the business or are they merely contributing to inactivity?

Ultimately, only you can make that call.

How to make better professional decisions

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Making important decisions is a fundamental part of any business leader’s role. Whether it’s determining how to better improve company policies or how to enhance an organisation’s profits, these decisions are never easy and can result in a number of repercussions.

According to The Balance Careers, managers often face unstructured issues within the workplace, which are there to test their abilities as a decision maker and will therefore ultimately impact their success as a manager.

It’s imperative that every leader gets these right, as getting them wrong can all too often lead to a lack of trust in you as a manager, which would likely lead to a loss on morale as employees lose faith.

Below are three tips to help you make better career decisions as a leader:

Removing emotion

When it comes to making key decisions, leaders should be aware not to let their emotions play a part in this. Emotions can rush a judgement or slow a process down, therefore The Balance Careers suggests stepping back and reflecting on the situation before making any snap decisions.

Reversing decisions

Once a decision has been made, every leader should be aware that this can’t be reversed as easily as they hope. However, The Balance Careers warns that managers should not fall victim to self-doubt when they have a called a decision, as this can lead to extra stress and frustration among teams and employees.

Learn from your mistakes

This well-known phrase is imperative for every business leader. As such, to strengthen your capabilities to make decisions you should reflect on ones you have made in the past and review them to help you improve your decision-making in the future.

(Credit to Executive Grapevine Daily)

Avoid discussing THESE topics at work

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In the current age of political, economic and social tension, when the actions that are constantly splashed all over the tabloid front pages, it’s hard to compartmentalise what subjects are and aren’t acceptable or ‘safe’ to talk about in the office.

In theory, good intellectual conversation should never, really, be off of the table – yet as most workers would confirm from personal experience, debate can very quickly become personal, and can cause widespread bad feeling when ill-informed perspectives are aired – or divisive views are shared.

As a result, it’s best to simply steer the conversation away from hot-button topics which may cause unintended offence or division within a team. The below topics are some of the most universal examples of these.

Money 

It’s a universal fact that all workers believe that they should be on a higher wage. As a result, there’s a vast culture of discretion within the UK professional sector when it comes to compensation. Regardless of whether you’re sharing because you think it’s low, or because you’re satisfied with a new raise, just keep quiet about your income. You have essentially no idea how your pay stacks up against others, and a surprising reveal may well cause significant dissension from your co-workers.

Politics

Regardless of your political leanings, keeping up to date with the constant controversies of the UK parliament can be an exhausting and infuriating prospect. However, just because the issue is on your mind, that doesn’t mean that you should be debating the events with others. You may well find that it sparks a debate from which the team’s co-working spirit does not recover.

Religion

Religion may well play a massive part in your life and telling co-workers about a christening or another big event you’re attending isn’t a faux pas, yet as with politics, actively encouraging a philosophical debate about the existence of God isn’t going to lead anywhere productive. Camps will just divide, and it may well soon descend into bitter arguments.

Relationships

There is never an appropriate situation within the workplace to discuss one-night-stands or the like. As a rule, it’s best to simply steer away from talking about your love life, as the lines between what is acceptable and what could get you disciplined by HR are very much blurred. Play it safe, keep it to yourself.

Hot button news 

There’s always a divisive issue being debated furiously on the news. Whether it’s the collapse of a retail empire, the capture of a terrorist or, as with the current cycle, much debate around environmental activism, such issues rarely elicit meek reactions from the public. Remember, the news is designed in its very nature to provoke strong feelings from viewers; discussing these issues in the workplace will only serve to bring back these feelings, which will be directed at anyone who doesn’t agree.

(Credit to Executive Grapevine Daily)

How to disagree with your boss – without getting fired

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Believing that your boss is fundamentally wrong, yet being expected to action their commands, is a horribly conflicting situation to be in for any employee.

Whilst the truth is essential and ensuring that your team isn’t wasting valuable time based on false information is hugely important, disagreeing with the boss can be taken badly, and if it isn’t handled with subtlety and discretion, can result in some pretty grave consequences.

Obviously regardless of your boss’ management style or personality type, the last thing you want to do is embarrass them or appear to be insubordinate, as these are big red flags that may well affect your career going forward; as such, the issue should be approached in a very specific manner. The following five rules should serve as guidelines for manoeuvring the issue without causing concern.

1. Ensure that you’re correct

Nothing will lose your credibility in this situation faster than challenging your boss’ information without checking that you’re correct. Blindly trusting your own intuition without researching the data first smacks of arrogance and single-mindedness. You must ensure that you’re correct if you’re going to attempt to correct your boss.

2. Decide if it’s essential

There are some incorrect statements that we can all simply ignore. The very fact that your boss has stated incorrect data in itself does not require your attention. So, before you decide to do anything about it, you must use your own judgement to assess whether it is necessary at all. No, misquoting Shakespeare or using a malaprop in a speech doesn’t require correcting.

If this is a company-wide meeting, do you really want to be the worker that interrupts your boss in front of all of these people? Is the information worth potentially being forever regarded as a ‘nit-picker’ or a contrarian? Again, if the information is being shared in a senior management meeting or in front of your boss’ boss, this probably isn’t the right time to bring this up. However, if the false information is shared in an informal Q&A session or in a more neutral environment, chances are on the spot is indeed the correct time and place to casually bring it up.

4. Consider your approach

As previously mentioned, if the situation is informal, casually recalling that the information was slightly different is probably the best approach, dependent on your boss’ temperament. If, however, the situation is more formal, it may be a good idea to convey the correct data through an email or a discrete phone call.

5. Language is everything 

Under no circumstances should you use any condescending or confrontational buzzwords. For example, it’s never a good idea to accuse your boss of being ‘wrong’ or having ‘made a mistake’. Almost regardless of temperament, your boss is virtually guaranteed to be angry if you start accusing them. Instead, try to suggest that the data simply may be slightly different. Your goal should be to offer them a way of accepting the correction, without being backed into a corner. Remember, you’re on the same side – they should feel this too.