Dealing With Bad Employees

Bad employees are a fact of life. No matter how hard a business owner tries to screen new hires, dealing with bad employees will always be an issue. Perhaps the new employee is not happy with their work they or simply does not fit into the organization. For whatever reason, a bad employee is not producing the quantity or quality of work they must to remain a part of the organization.

Counseling Bad Employees

Once you identify a problem employee, your first step is to counsel the bad employee. Bring the person into your office for a one-on-one discussion of their recent work and the problems with that work. Ask them why their work has fallen into a level that is unacceptable.

Perhaps the poor work is a result of employee having no training to perform certain tasks. Each company and organization has different processes and techniques for tasks. Untrained employees will fail to produce acceptable results.

If this is the situation, counsel the employee and offer them training. Then review their progress often to decide if they have improved to acceptable levels of performance.

If the problem is due to personal family difficulties, you might advise the employee to seek outside counseling and give them the opportunity to improve their work.

The poor performance could be the results of a drug or alcohol addiction. If this is the case, direct them to seek help and to enter a rehabilitation program immediately. Depending on your company policies, they may be able to return to work after seeking help.

Policies for dealing with bad employees in this area differ from business to business. Many small businesses are not in a position to hold a job open for 30 days while an employee gets help.

When Counseling Doesn't Resolve The Problems With Bad Employees

If counseling does not reveal a valid reason for poor performance or reveals a problem that cannot be resolved, you must issue a documented warning and place in the employee's Human Resources folder. This clearly tells the employee that if their performance does not significantly improve within 30 days, they will face termination.

You should review the employee's improvement or lack of improvement weekly. And you must document whether the bad employee is making any effort to improve the quality and quantity of their work.

It is not uncommon that a person has a great resume and verifiable references but their skills do not fit the work you ask them to perform. In some organizations, lateral movement of employees can be a solution to turn a bad employee into a productive, good employee. This may not be a solution in your particular organization, however.

If counseling and warnings fail, the business owner or Human Resources director must fire the bad employee and hire a better person for the job.