Policy & Managing the Trouble Employee 

Michael Rinaldi

The trouble employee.

Many of us have had to work alongside them or have had to manage them at some point in our working lives.

The troublesome employee often times is that someone you can  put your finger on: the chronic complainer, the "know-it-all", the "mean one", the one we use derogatory terms to describe.    However the ones that are more covert are the ones that can really cause damage to an organization.  These are the real trouble employees.   A manager who has the uncanny ability to identify such people quickly and deal with them emphatically has some credit towards being a good and skilled manager, for these employees can bring down a division, department, or company.

Managerial action should be based on previously established policies of action  and  consequence; however, contextual judgment on the part of a good manager is also part of the equation.  The other part is execution.

Therefore policy on employee behavior and performance should be written to define the standards of employee performance and include consequences for failure to meet accpetable standards.  Handling trouble employee behavior should be towards resolution of the problem and not mere rhetoric.  Chastising is not merely enough. 

The highest priority of management would be to develop fact-based application of know-how and/or best practices towards group or organizational survival.  "Group-think" is usually futile unless first demonstrated by those employees who have very good control over their area of responsibility.

An organization for that matter, must not place its fate in "hope management "  (hoping someone or some situation will change or go away) or management that performs at the level of ineffectiveness or abdication (this applies to governments as well).  Think of your neurosurgeon, dentist or pilot on your next air flight operating at this level.

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