Susie has
been with the company for a long time.
When she first started, she was a “good enough” employee, but as time
has gone on you wish she would rise to the level of “good enough” again. She complains about the food you serve at
office parties, she leaves early when she thinks no one is watching, she
irritates her co-workers with her constant jabber about Dancing with the Stars, and her manager has to check all her work
product before it goes out because she is “not a detail person.” The list of your issues with Susie goes on
and on. Yet, she’s been there so long,
you know she needs the job (and who else would ever hire her?), and she fits
into about every protected class there is.
So, you sit and wait for her to either quit or do something so bad that
firing her is the only reasonable response.
Either consciously or unconsciously, you have weighed the pros and cons of ending the employment relationship and have decided that the cons are more substantial. You should consider, however, whether you weighed the right data. Underestimating the costs of a problem employee leads to an unbalanced cost-benefit analysis in making employment decisions.
An employee with recurring behavior, attendance, or performance problems requires increased attention of managers and human resources personnel. When considering whether to terminate employment or to continue to work with such an employee, you should think about how much time your managers and human resources personnel have spent dealing with problems involving the employee as compared to other employees. The simple act of tracking time spent over the course of a week or month can be very enlightening.
You also should consider the impact of a misbehaving or poor performing employee on co-workers. If co-workers perceive that the company will tolerate a certain level of misconduct or poor performance, they may believe that they can “get away with it” too. Employees who choose not to follow suit may resent that others are allowed to violate rules or under-perform without consequences. If an employee who is a disruptive force in the workplace is retained, you might begin having similar problems with others or find yourself losing valued employees.
A bad employee can have an impact on clients or customers, vendors, or the public. Problem employees may sabotage business relationships intentionally or as the simple result of their incompetence. Your business must rely upon, and be at the mercy of, the impression your employees make. You should take into account the potential impact a troublesome employee may have on those whose dealings with the company depend upon that employee.
The longer you wait to take action, the stronger the employee’s sense of security will become. Unfortunately, the troublesome employee often uses the company’s patience as additional months or years of “ammunition” against the company.
If you can’t imagine a scenario in which Susie would go back to “good enough,” then the time to take action is now. There are steps you can take to soften the blow to Susie and bolster the company’s position in case Susie decides to pursue legal action, but you have to do what’s right for your business rather than doing what might feel like the safe (or kind) thing.