Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

The best way to handle problem employees is to not hire them in the first place. While there should be things in place to ensure the best hire, nobody is good enough to get it right all the time.

One thing in the beginning of the the hiring process and reiterated once the employee is hired, is that attitude is part of the expectation by the company. It should be specifically written out on paper also.

Now one of the things that we need to understand about problem employees is that they look at themselves as leaders and look for people to sympathize with them during times of turmoil.

One of the best ways to handle problem employees like this is to work on ways to lower their credibility with their peers.

You can do this by speaking privately with the employee with a witness present.

This witness needs to be a peer to the employee. This will help to cut down on rumors and lies that could start to spread because the witness will watch how you deal with the situation professionaly.

In these encounters you must maintain a professional manner. If the problem employee can get you to deal with things with you out of control, they will have manipulated you down to their level. As a result they and the witness will think of it as a personal issue rather than a problem with the employee.

Make sure you're in control of yourself and acting professionally and you will be able to greatly limit the influence of a negative employee. Have you ever tried this type of strategy with your problem employees?