Executive Briefing

Managing Dicult Employees: Problems and Solu:ons

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Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions. Copyright 2010 by Profiles International. All rights reserved. No part of the report may
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Publisher!
Profiles Research Institute!
Dario Priolo, Managing Director!
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Waco, Texas 76710-1732!
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Profiles International !
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www.profilesinternational.com!
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Acknowledgements!
President, Co-founder, Profiles International: Bud Haney!
Editor-in-Chief: Dario Priolo!
Managing Editor: Carrie D. Martinez!
Assistant Editor: Jeff Meyers, Jacob Ford!
Creative Director: Kelley Taylor!
Graphics Assistant: Colton Canava, Ruben Vera!

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions | 2!

Effective managers are able to

2ind ways to motivate and work
with challenging employees.

Dicult employees suck the lifeand 5meout of managers

Every workplace has them. They never come to work on :me, they invade your personal
space, and they eat their favorite hot lunches at their desks. They never rell the coee pot,
they shout on the phone during personal calls, and they complain about every liEle
organiza:onal change. Dicult employees provide an addi:onal set of problems for any
manager.

Eec:ve managers are able to nd ways to mo:vate and work with challenging employees. In
most cases though, a few problem employees can require the majority of a managers :me. It
has been es:mated that dicult employees make up only 10% of a department or team, but
they occupy 90% of the managers :me.

In this report, we iden5fy four main problems managers experience with dicult
employees:

1. Managing Dicult Personali:es
2. Managing Employees with Bad ARtudes
3. Managing Poor Performers
4. Managing Communica:on Problems

It is important to remember that managers must understand their own management styles
before they address issues with problem employees. Management is a two-way street, and
some:mes the problems in the workplace are nothing more than the result of a mismatched
employee and manager. If you feel like more than 10% of your employees are dicult
employees, then you and your management style may be the problem. Psychographic
assessments and 360-degree feedback can help iden:fy any mismatched employees and the
eects they are having on their coworkers.

There are no simple solu:ons when managing dicult employees. But its important to
iden:fy problems quickly so that you can spend your :me managing the en:re sta, not just
the high-maintenance employees.

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions | 3!

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions

1. Problem: Difficult personalities!

Dicult personali5es nega5vely impact coworkers and damage the culture of
an organiza5on

Whether its the constant complaints or inappropriate jokes, some employees have
personali:es that make managing them and working with them strenuous. Most employees
avoid these people while managers con:nue to struggle to create a unied team. Theres
nothing wrong with people with unique personali:es, but in the workplace there are certain
behaviors and personality traits that are unacceptable and require a measure of tact if they
are to be dealt with appropriately.

Common dicult personali5es:

The BullyDominates conversa:ons and manipulates people to get what he wants
The Prima DonnaOnly looks out for numero uno, and does so in drama:c fashion
The Control FreakConstantly noses into your business and trusts no one
The Know-It-AllConverses with coworkers in a condescending manner
The GossipOnly talks to others to get informa:on about oce happenings
The ComplainerUses every interac:on to whine about the smallest of changes
The DirtbagMakes inappropriate and sugges:ve comments to coworkers

At some point in your management career you have run into an employee who is dicult to
manage. Iden:fying these employees is only half the baEle; managing dicult personali:es
and helping them to be produc:ve is the dicult part.

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions | 4!

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions

1. Solution: Manage difficult personalities!

A good manager must address employees with dicult personali5es and deal
with them appropriately

Asking an employee to change

job assignments is a lot easier
than asking him to stop
bossing people around.

What is a manager supposed to do with dicult personali:es? Asking an employee to change

job assignments is a lot easier than asking him to stop bossing people around. Managing
dicult personali:es can be challenging, but there are some simple steps managers can take
to help address these distrac:ng employees.

First, a manager must make sure the employee is aware of the problems he is causing in the
workplace. It is easy for an employee to be completely blind to his or her distrac:ng behavior.
Management should arrange to meet with the employee to explain how the behavior is
aec:ng his coworkers and the oce environment. Awareness is the rst and most important
step in dealing with an employee who has a dicult personality.

Secondly, the employee needs to show a willingness to change his demeanor and personality.
If an employee complains all the :me, he must admit to excessive complaining and make an
eort to complain less in the future. The manager will need to provide addi:onal support in
order to mo:vate the employee to change. Although this will take more :me and focus special
aEen:on on one employee, the other employees will be more produc:ve aber the distrac:ng
behavior has been eliminated.

Finally, managers can enlist trustworthy employees to provide feedback on the progress of
the dicult employee. If the employee s:ll chooses to engage in nega:ve behavior and shows
no willingness to change, then management may need to look at more dras:c steps for dealing
with him. Managing challenging employees is made easier through the assistance of coworkers
and employees.


Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions | 5!

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions

2. Problem: Employees with bad attitudes!

Nega5ve aItudes about othersor the organiza5ondampen the work
environment and ul5mately decrease produc5vity!

Negative feelings toward the

organization contradict the
overall mission of the
organization and may cause
other employees to have
negative feelings as well.

The work environment and oce atmosphere have a signicant impact on produc:vity.
Companies spend :me and money researching the best oce layout, wall color, and break room
design, but an employee with a bad aRtude is one of the fastest ways to ruin the atmosphere of
an oce. Iden:fying nega:ve aRtudes is the rst step in reclaiming employee produc:vity.

Some common nega5ve aItudes:

Nega5ve emo5ons toward the organiza5on. There are always those employees who are quick
to make nega:ve comments about upper management or coworkers. These nega:ve feelings
contradict the overall mission of the organiza:on and may cause other employees to have
nega:ve feelings as well.

Insubordinate challenges to authority. There are many :mes when employees refuse to do
what they are asked in order to prove a point or make a statement. These employees have no
respect for you and will likely lose the trust of their peers.

Lazy, unmo5vated. These employees spend most of their day goong o and distrac:ng other
employees.

Overly argumenta5ve. Employees who are looking to pick a ght put coworkers on edge and
create a high level of discomfort in the workplace.

The more nega:ve your employees are at work, the less likely they are to complete their work and
add value to the organiza:on. Bad aRtudes must be dealt with quickly and maturely.
Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions | 6!

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions

2. Solution: Find the source of the bad attitude!

Improve the atmosphere of the oce by dealing with bad aItudes

Allowing bad attitudes to

fester causes serious
problems for the overall
atmosphere of the office and
productivity of each
employee.

Managing employees bad aRtudes in the workplace is a tricky endeavor. Employees have bad
aRtudes for a variety of personal reasons, and addressing them as a manager can force you to
cross lines that distance you from your employees. But allowing bad aRtudes to fester causes
serious problems for the overall atmosphere of the oce and the produc:vity of every employee.

As a manager, there are some important things to remember when addressing bad aItudes in
the workplace:

Bad aItudes are a serious problem. Do not take bad aRtudes lightly. They are dierent from
other problems and must be addressed as such. An employee who has a bad aRtude causes
more problems than an employee who is trying hard but simply doesnt have the ability to do
his or her job.

Understand why the employee has a bad aItude. A bad aRtude can be blamed on an
employees melancholy personality or nega:ve disposi:on. But there is probably something
else going on beneath the surface. Has anything happened in her life that has resulted in an
adverse aRtudinal change? A personality assessment helps managers know how an employee
responds to adversity and how to best manage her through the challenging :me.

Set boundaries and expecta5ons for the employee. Let the employee know that her behavior
is nega:vely impac:ng the team. Oer your support, but be rm. Let the employee know that
her job is in jeopardy if there is not a posi:ve change in aRtude and behavior.

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions | 7!

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions

3. Problem: Poor performance!

Poor-performing employees create new problems for managers

Dicult employees can also cause problems by underperforming. You spend countless hours
trying to hire quality, competent employees, but you s:ll have employees who dont
complete their assigned tasks or understand (or appreciate) the organiza:onal goals of the
company. In a team environment, a manager needs to be able to iden:fy poor performance
and know how to address it.

Common reasons that an employee may have diculty doing the job:

Doesnt follow direc5ons. An employee who doesnt follow direc:ons well is always
someone who is dicult to manage. He makes his own rules and cant be trusted to
complete important tasks.

Incompetence. An incompetent employee makes mistakes, is disorganized, and has a hard
:me learning new concepts. He may be overwhelmed by a new job assignment or by
having to adapt to something new.

Takes too long. Timeliness wouldnt be a major problem to manage if it only involved one
employee, but you may have ve other employees who cant do their jobs un:l the slow-
moving employee does his.
Nervous worker. A nervous employee has a dicult :me dealing with the stress and
pressure of his job. If you manage in a highly compe::ve industry, nervous workers who
are concerned about issues such as job security and mee:ng sales quotas could drag down
performance.


Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions | 8!

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions

3. Solution: Support and train poor performers!

Managerial support is essen5al for transforming poor performers into quality
employees

Insucient produc:on from a normally produc:ve employee is a concern for every manager.
Do not write o employees who are struggling to produce. As a manager, it is your
responsibility to iden:fy poor performance and mo:vate the employee to achieve the desired
goal.

Keeping in mind the reasons for poor performance that we iden5ed previously, here are
some proposed solu5ons to those problems:

Communicate direc5ons clearly. For the employee who struggles to follow direc:ons, try
communica:ng those direc:ons in a more detailed or concrete way.

Explain the expecta5ons beWer. An incompetent employee needs to learn more about what
is expected of him. Take a step back and explain the expecta:ons of the job and his role in
the team and the organiza:on.

Provide addi5onal training. If an employee has a dicult :me organizing his work, provide a
specic training day to help him learn how to organize beEer.

Use other team members. If an employee con:nues to work at a slow pace, assign a more
experienced team member to work with him. Providing extra help and support will help
speed up his processes.

If addi:onal support and training do not help the employee achieve more success at work, there
is probably a poor t between the employee and the job. Assessments can help managers
iden:fy job t and provide suggested jobs for each employee.
Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions | 9!

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions

4. Problem: Communication !
Communica5on between employees and management must be clear and
coherent

Methods of communication
continue to increase, but
miscommunication is still a
daily occurrence in the
workplace.

Communica:on is constant and ows through many dierent media. Email, instant messaging,
tex:ng, and face-to-face communica:on help to transfer ideas, informa:on, and instruc:ons.
Methods of communica:on con:nue to increase, but miscommunica:on is s:ll a daily
occurrence in the workplace. Managers must learn how to best communicate with each
employee to ensure that the message sent is the same as the message received.

Here are some common communica5on problems between a manager and an employee:

The employee appears to understand but actually doesnt. This communica:on error oben
results in numerous mistakes in the workplace. The :me and energy spent on unnecessary
work costs the organiza:on money. Miscommunica:ons impact the boEom line quickly.

The manager doesnt understand the technical language of the employee. In this
communica:on error, the employee may be referring to a technical term that the manager
has never heard before. The manager may assume that the employee knows what he is
talking about even if she doesnt understand the message at all.

Although there are a myriad of dierent management communica:on problems in the
workplace, these are just a few that aect every manager and employee. Managers must seek
clarity in their communica:on with each employee.

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions | 10!

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions

4. Solution: Create quality dialogue with each employee!

Solve communica5on issues through clear and honest conversa5ons

Establishing effective
communication practices in
your department will not
only increase efficiency, but
also improve trust, honesty,
and openness.

At the end of the day, communica:on between a manager and his employees needs to be
clear. Establishing eec:ve communica:on prac:ces in your department will not only
increase eciency, but also improve trust, honesty, and openness.

Here are some general :ps for avoiding management communica:on problems in the
workplace.

If an employee seems to understand, but doesnt:
Make sure your employees feel comfortable enough to tell you that they dont know or
dont understand.
Have the employee repeat back the instruc:ons or message you just gave her un:l she
says exactly what you said.
Try hands-on demonstra:ons to make sure the employee knows exactly what to do.

If the manager doesnt understand the technical language of the employee:
Spend :me learning more about the details of your employees job.
Find an employee who can serve as a translator to explain the technical jargon so that you
know exactly what your employee is trying to communicate.
Ask the employee to draw pictures or diagrams. Find another way for the employee to
express herself.

Communica:on oben requires simple strategies such as the ones listed above. If you and an
employee consistently nd yourselves making mistakes due to communica:on errors, the
professional rela:onship may be a bad t.

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions | 11!

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions

What can you do to manage a difficult employee?!

Whatever the problem may be, these ac5ons will lead to the solu5on

Managing dicult employees tests the limits of a managers :me and energy, but the results
can oben be rewarding. Below is a list of managerial ac:ons that you can use to address any
problem with a dicult employee.

1. Have a one-on-one conversa:on.
2. Schedule a formal employee review mee:ng, even if its not :me for a scheduled review.
3. Meet with the employees involved to discuss the problem.
4. Consult with other managers and your boss.
5. Put the employee on proba:on for a specied amount of :me.
6. Assign another, more experienced employee to work with and mentor the problem
employee.
7. Write clearer guidelines for the employee.
8. Make yourself available for addi:onal training with employee.
9. Provide the employee with outside training.
10.Provide the employee with hands-on experience while you observe.
11.Ask the employee to submit reports to you about how he or she is seeking to change.
12.Give the employee a specic :me limit for showing improvement (with dened goals).
13.Terminate the employee as gently as you can and provide the employee with an
explana:on, pay for hours already worked and severance pay.
14.For a more serious problem, terminate the employee immediately, explain the cause,
and provide pay for any hours already worked.
15.Report any criminal ac:ons to the appropriate authori:es.
It is important to remember that each situa:on is dierent and may require only a few of
these sugges:ons.


Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions | 12!

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions

Summary!
Take the 5me to manage the most dicult, distrac5ng employees

Knowing how your employees

respond in stressful situations
or how they fit with a certain
management style arms you
with valuable information that
can help you manage problem
employees.

Dealing with dicult employees is inevitable. As a manager, there will always be employees or
clients who are annoying, lazy, or just downright rude. You have a choice to either work with
them or let them go. Termina:ng the employment of dicult employees may help you in the
short term, but it also increases hiring costs. And what if the employee is a high performer?

In this document, we looked at four dierent employee problems that require specialized
management skills:

1. Managing Dicult Personali5es
2. Managing Bad AItudes
3. Managing Poor Performers
4. Managing Communica5on Problems

Although managing dicult employees takes :me, it is s:ll worth the eort in order to avoid
addi:onal hiring costs. Assessments also help managers deal with dicult employees. Knowing
how your employees respond in stressful situa:ons or how they t with a certain management
style arms you with valuable informa:on that can help you manage problem employees.
Assessments provide a vast amount of informa:on that you can use to make decisions
concerning your employees.

Dicult employees are always going to be in the workplace. The way in which you manage these
employees will not only eect your reputa:on as a manager, but also the organiza:ons boEom
line.

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions | 13!

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions

Overview of our assessments and solutions!

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions | 14!

How We Do It Assessment and solution descriptions!

ProfileXT (PXT)
The PXT assessment measures how well an individual ts specic jobs in your organiza:on. The job
matching feature of the PXT is unique, and it enables you to evaluate an individual rela:ve to the
quali:es required to successfully perform in a specic job. It is used throughout the employee life
cycle for selec:on, on-boarding, managing, and strategic workforce planning.

This assessment reveals consistent, in-depth, objec:ve insight into an individual's thinking and
reasoning style, relevant behavioral traits, occupa:onal interests, and match to specic jobs in your
organiza:on. It helps your managers interview and select people who have the highest probability of
being successful in a role, and provides prac:cal recommenda:ons for coaching them to maximum
performance. It also gives your organiza:on consistent language and metrics to support strategic
workforce and succession planning, talent management and reorganiza:on eorts.

Step One Survey II (SOSII)

The SOSII is a brief pre-hire assessment that measures an individuals basic work-related values. It is
used primarily as a screening tool early in the candidate selec:on process.


This assessment provides valid insight into an applicants work ethic, reliability, integrity, propensity
for substance abuse, and aRtudes toward theb including property, data and :me.


Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions | 15!

How We Do It Assessment and solution descriptions!

Profiles Performance Indicator (PPI)

The Proles Performance Indicator is a DISC-type assessment that reveals aspects of an individual's
personality that could impact their t with their manager, coworkers and team, and their job
performance. It is used primarily for mo:va:ng and coaching employees, and resolving post-hire
conict and performance issues.

The PPI specically measures an individual's mo:va:onal intensity and behaviors related to
produc:vity, quality of work, ini:a:ve, teamwork, problem solving, and adap:ng to change, as well
as response to conict, stress, and frustra:on. The output from this assessment serves as an
operator's manual for an employee, which helps managers beEer mo:vate, coach, and
communicate with the employee. It also helps to predict and minimize conict among co-workers,
and it provides crucial informa:on for improving team selec:on and performance.

A powerful feature of the PPI is the Team Analysis Report, designed to help managers form new
teams, reduce team conict, improve team communica:on, improve their ability to an:cipate
problems, and enhance their team leadership skills.

It helps evaluate overall team balance, strengths, and weaknesses, as well as team members
personality characteris:cs along 12 key factors: control, composure, social inuence, analy:cal,
pa:ence, results orienta:on, precision, expressiveness, ambi:on, teamwork, posi:ve expectancy,
and quality of work. It also provides team leaders with prac:cal recommenda:ons and ac:on steps
to take in order to succeed in their jobs.

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions | 16!

How We Do It Assessment and solution descriptions!

CheckPoint 360
The CheckPoint Management System is a 360-degree assessment. It is used primarily to evaluate the
eec:veness of your managers and leaders. This assessment combines feedback from direct reports,
peers, supervisors, and even customers, with a personalized program for developing specic
leadership skills based on that feedback. This process highlights a managers job performance in 8
universal management competencies: communica:on, leadership, adap:ng to change, rela:onships,
task management, produc:on, development of others, and personal development.

The CheckPoint 360 helps managers iden:fy and priori:ze their own development opportuni:es. And
it helps the organiza:on to beEer focus management training and development investments;
proac:vely uncover misaligned priori:es between senior execu:ves and front-line managers; and
surface management issues that could lead to low employee produc:vity, morale, job-sa:sfac:on,
and increased turnover.

Profiles Managerial Fit (PMF)

People typically dont quit their companies, they quit their bosses. Proles Managerial Fit (PMF)
measures cri:cal aspects of compa:bility between a manager and their employees. This report oers
an in-depth look at ones approach to learning, as well as six cri:cal dimensions of compa:bility with
their manager: self-assurance, conformity, op:mism, decisiveness, self-reliance, and objec:vity.

Managers use this informa:on for adap:ng their styles in order to get the most from each employee;
improve communica:on; increase engagement, sa:sfac:on, and produc:vity; and reduce employee
turnover.

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions | 17!

How We Do It Assessment and solution descriptions!

Workplace Engagement Survey (WES)

Our Workplace Engagement Survey (WES) measures the degree to which your employees connect
with their work and feel commiEed to the organiza:on and its goals. This gives you and your
management team a detailed view of what inuences engagement across all of your workforce
segments and how your employees compare sta:s:cally to the overall working popula:on.

In addi:on, the WES measures sa:sfac:on with employer and sa:sfac:on with manager across
your en:re organiza:on, and gives recommenda:ons for your organiza:on to improve.

Profiles Skills Tests (PST)

Proles Interna:onal provides comprehensive assessments to measure essen:al knowledge and

skills. We use powerful technologies, such as performance-based tes:ng, which simulates popular
sobware products like Microsob Oce, to ensure accurate, reliable, assessment of knowledge,
skills, and abili:es. Our skills assessments cover Sobware Skills, Clerical Skills, Call Center Skills,
Accoun:ng and Finance, Medical, Nursing, Legal, Industrial, Computer Literacy, Retail, Food
Services, Informa:on Technology, Stang, and Human Resources.

Employee Background Checks (EBC)

Proles Interna:onal provides comprehensive employee background checks for our clients. These
include Consumer Credit Reports, Criminal History Record, Drivers' History Report (DMV), Educa:on
Verica:on, Employment History Verica:on, Foreign Na:onals Terrorist Sanc:ons Search (OFAC,
CLFST & OSFI), Iden:ty Verica:on Search, Incarcera:on Records Search, Military Service
Verica:on, Cursory Na:onwide Criminal Index Database Search (CNID), and many more.
Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions | 18!

How We Do It Assessment and solution descriptions!

Profiles Sales Assessment (PSA)

The Proles Sales Assessment (PSA) measures how well a person ts specic sales jobs in your
organiza:on. It is used primarily for selec:ng, on-boarding and managing sales people and account
managers.

The job modeling feature of the PSA is unique, and can be customized by company, sales posi:on,
department, manager, geography, or any combina:on of these factors. This enables you to evaluate
an individual rela:ve to the quali:es required to perform successfully in a specic sales job in your
organiza:on. It also predicts on-the-job performance in seven cri:cal sales behaviors: prospec:ng,
call reluctance, closing the sale, self-star:ng, teamwork, building and maintaining rela:onships, and
compensa:on preference.

Customer Service Profile (CSP)

The Customer Service Prole (CSP) measures how well a person ts specic customer service jobs in
your organiza:on. It is used primarily for selec:ng, on-boarding, and managing customer service
employees.

The CSP also looks at what your current and future employees believe is a high level of customer
service, while at the same :me showing where they align (or not) with the companys perspec:ve.
We have a general industry version of this assessment as well as ver:cal special:es in hospitality,
healthcare, nancial services, and retail.

Managing Difficult Employees: Problems and Solutions | 19!

How We Do It Assessment and solution descriptions!

Profiles Loyalty Pro (PLP)

Proles LoyaltyPro is a web-based customer loyalty surveying tool. Loyalty, as determined
through the voice of the customer, is a leading indicator that predicts the staying power of an
account.

Proles LoyaltyPro oers companies a tool to gather ongoing, cri:cal account intelligence that
helps them assess the rela:onship between the buyer and the supplier, ul:mately driving the ac:on
plan to improve customer service. Having insight into your customers percep:on of your
rela:onship allows you to steer the strategic business eorts and ini:a:ves of the account
management teams to con:nually improve customer rela:onships and build a network of loyal
customers.

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