Loading...
Answers
MenuDealing with a disrespectful employee.
One of the two employees who have been working for me for the last ten years, has changed. He has become mannerless, argumentative and doesn't respect me. I can't lose him as my business depends on him greatly, however he has another source of income. I hired a new employee but they fought and the new employee left. I need help learning how to deal with him. What are some suggestions?
Answers
As the owner of your business, you should never feel threatened by the loss of an employee. Have a straightforward conversation with the employees to let them know that you are willing to take action if necessary. Work on assertive communication techniques that will help you hold the space. In my experience, some of the most challenging staff I have managed, have thrived after I have reset the expectations.
As far as the threat of losing his, keep your feelers out for a possible replacement and start building the systems and processes you will need in place to train the replacement in the shortest amount of time.
I work with entrepreneurs to build their businesses, address risk and strategy and work on leadership. I'd love to discuss this more with you and answer any questions you may have. Feel free to set up a call with me.
2 issues to address: (1) dependency on one employee and (2) dealing with a difficult employee. Both are addressed below.
(1) Ask yourself why you feel dependent on this employee. If it is merely because of what he does, then finding an alternative is not too hard. It may mean spreading the work between other people (you included), and it may mean others being busier for a while. Consider what you can outsource or automate, or hire a temp to cover. That is better than allowing toxic attitudes in the workplace.
If it is because of knowledge he has or relationships he has with clients, start working right now to change that. Find ways to capture and share information, make sure your clients associate positive experiences with the company as well as the people. If your employees capture knowledge in their heads then start new procedures to manage a CRM Or system to keep client files up to date.
Never let an employee hold your business hostage.
(2) Dealing with a difficult employee - there are good tips here already. I don't know how close your relationship with this person is but remember that the workplace is not the back-yard: loyalty is rewarded but loyalty is not the same as longevity or seniority. If he is causing damage to your business, that is not loyalty.
Have a clear conversation, talk about the work issues: is he dropping the ball? Is he not doing what is expected? Is he not performing to your required business standards? Ask him if there is something he doesn't understand, or if he wants more training. In essence: when you speak with him come to the table with solutions. If he refuses each one, then give him his warning and be explicit about what that means.
Best of luck with this difficult situation!
What so you mean when you say that your business "depends on him greatly"?
All team members, regardless of team size, can benefit from clear expectations related to their performance and professional demeanor. Expectations can be set formally, in terms of annual goals, and informally, in terms of company culture.
As a person who has worked for you for 10 years, do you have a relationship with this employee to understand id personal circumstances may have changed?
Sometime people outgrow companies and vice versa. Have job functions for this employee evolved and were these changes communicated to them?
Happy to jump on a quick call and discuss a few tactics to ease the tensions and retain good talent.
Dan
It’s hard to answer this question without knowing the nature of your business, but if his attitude is toxic then it will be affecting the work environment and ultimately the customers. At some point you need to assess whether his value to the company outweighs the damage he is doing to the company. If he is a valuable employee with a skill set that you can’t easily replace and he does a good job at a job that is isolated from others, then a bad attitude is something you need to address but maybe not worry too much about. If it’s going to make or break your business you need to do what’s best for your business.
It can be difficult when dealing with an employee upon whom you depend because they are competent, but on the other hand are not shored up in the area of manners and the etiquette of your office environment. My approach would be two prong, first of all, I would be very vigilant about finding a possible replacement for this particular employee, in case you need to eventually make that unfortunate move, and at the same time, I would begin an Professional Improvement Plan with said employee to help make them keenly aware of my concerns and expectations as an employee of our company. Starting an improvement plan with the employee will express the seriousness of your concern while also giving the employee specific areas to work on and a way for you to observe and measure if there is indeed improvement.
You can download a Professional Improvement Plan online. Hope this helps....All the best.
This is another similar question I answer this month. The previous question I answered was https://clarity.fm/questions/6150/new-coo-clashing-with-two-most-important-veteran-employees
I was requested for a call due to my answer in the above link. However, I asked him to follow my answer first and if he can solve the problem after using my answer then no need to request a call from me.
Luckily, he successfully used my method and save the money to call me. Thus I suggest you may click the link to read my answer, it may have some helps to you.
There is only one thing I like to highlight based on your case:
"you greatly depending on the employee really makes me wonder should you cease operation or if your profit still very attractive, then treat that employee as a customer and bear with his nonsense (although I feel quite ridiculous, if he really indispensable, you can't do anything much but just have the two options I suggested above)"
"if you disagree that he is indispensable, then my link above will be useful"
Hi! First of all, your business can never depend on nobody, even if this someone is yourself.
It looks like your employee knows that he is essencial for your company, and it makes him powerfull.
If I were you, I would try to understand what is happening with this employee. He is human, not a robot, and everybody has problems in some moments of lives. Maybe he is going trought some difficult moments that are changing his behavior. It could be a disease, a family problem, a financial problem, or it’s just a problem with the job. However, the first step is have a professional conversation with your employee to understand what is going on.
If you the problem is the job, try to understand which facts are making him unmotivated and what could you do to make him feel better. Sometimes a salary rise or new beneficits will solve the problem. Sometimes you should review the company environment, culture, relationships…
But one thing is certain, you gotta have a honest and open mind conversation with him. Show him that he’s important (not dependent), reconized and valued for your company.
Why is your business so dependent on this one person - what if he decides to quit of his own accord, or becomes sick, or has an accident?
I think you should plan as if he were to suddenly become sick - e.g: get any passwords, or access that he has made generic, or transfer ownership or admin rights to you, so that you aren't locked out of your systems, any information that he has needs to be made available, whether that's writing it down, or getting him to record his screen using something like Loom - so that you have processes documented, and put on a shared drive?
In terms of his behaviour, you could either speak to him about it, maybe things have changed in his personal life and its affecting him at work, or decide that the best course of action is to let him go.
Hope that helps, and I'd be happy to chat further on a call if you wish!
Have you tried getting to the root of his lack of respect? I suggest having a one on one conversation as a peer rather than a boss. He may be going through something and he’s taking his frustrations out at the work place. He’s been with you for 10 years for a reason either he really likes the job or he’s really good. Also he may have lost interest in the job as well. But sometimes employees avoid conversations with their boss because it becomes to work related rather than just two people simply having a conversation. I can see you care and value him as an employee since you haven’t gave up on him due to his behavior but before throwing in the towel I suggest getting to the root of it. I’ve had a manager that was sending me to become one as well but a lot was going on. When I did try to tell her how I felt it went left and I ended up leaving a great paying job because I simply couldn’t deal with managements lack of communication. Feel free to give me a call if you want to ask other questions that may help get your employee back on track. :)
Related Questions
-
How Can I Find an Online Marketing Expert to Join Our Company?
The first place to start is to get out there and meet people especially at local business association group meetings. Any place where people are networking is a great way to find someone for the team. Use the resources you already have like checking your college or university alumni association. Of course you could put out an ad on one of the online job boards, but your best opportunity will be to find someone who knows someone so that you can get a strong recommendation. There's always the obvious resources such as LinkedIn, but you'd be better off networking with people that you know to find the exact person that you need.SB
-
How should I handle a situation where an employee asked for a raise a couple months in advance of a scheduled raise?
Do you find your employee an efficient worker? Is he performing well in your business? What could be the lost in your business if he leaves? You mention that you are barely keeping up with the demands, so is it possible to hire more employees, if he leaves? These are some of the things you can think about to trigger your decision. It is important to keep the employee happy if they are giving you great performances, but it is also important to measure the benefits you can offer to the benefits of your business. I can understand your feelings when your employee address the early salary raise issue to you. If this employee is doing a great job, I believe you know that he deserves to get a raise, and it could also be a motivation for the other employees to work harder. On the other hand, if an employee is not performing efficiently, you should consider putting your focus on another that do. If you need more support regarding the issue, I will be happy to help you sort things out. Best of luck!CL
-
What is the best way to reach semi-retired or retired professionals?
Paid advertising on social media, particularly Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn can be highly targeted and so I am sure you could find relevant keywords and topics to target using those platforms. Depending on where you are in the world, look for events on meetup.com and/or Yelp. There are almost certainly going to be groups and events related to your target demographic. Think book clubs, wine clubs, sports, theatre etc. Digital signposting - e.g. screens at medical establishments, local public transport, gas stations. Lastly, perhaps advertise at night-schools or venues that host a lot of evening classes.SC
-
My partner is an idea person who refuses professional business plan. Is this typical of creatives or is this a sign of unprofessional habits?
I have been working with creatives for years and the ones who refuse to follow standard business practices such as planning are normally the ones you don't want on your team. Creatives are great but if they don't understand the importance of business planning, resourcing, money management they are not going to be partners... only employees.MG
-
What are good approaches for setting up a performance based bonuses for employees?
In my business, positive bottom line equals bonus for everybody. Percentage of salary to employees - same for all, up to three months salary. That is simple and works well, and is aligned with overall goals. And it is easy to report where we are. We don't have sales targets, which we maybe should have. Depending on your business type that may not be feasible for you-startups don't make money initially. But building on your idea, hitting targets is important. Both growth and quality. People will behave as they are measured and challenging targets will help you create a sense of urgency instead of entitlement. (However, increase risk of suboptimization). I think hitting sales targets, finishing projects on time and budget combined with NPS for both sales and project process should be enough. You don't need many targets, but use them all the time, talk about them with your team, incl. what you are trying to achieve. KPI's are no substitute for leadership; your team needs to know what your intent is. One way of showing your commitment to quality could be to collect NPS yourself through customer interviews. That would also inspire new ideas, and give you better market knowledge. Given the size of your team that should be feasible. Good luck. Should you want to talk more to someone with a business of similar size, feel free to give me a call. Best regards Kenneth WolstrupKW
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.