Bad Employee! What to do?

Jill Kline

April 07, 2008


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Are your employees taking advantage of you? Have you let them get away with things you shouldn’t have and now wonder what to do? If your business is beginning to suffer because of your employees’ behavior, but you don’t want to fire them, you may want to consider the following.

This is an interesting scenario; I’ll make some assumptions and generalize a bit.

First, take responsibility for your situation and minimize any damage or effects to your business and employees. This is a great step because you, as business owner, are ultimately responsible for what happens in your business, positive or negative.

Perhaps you did not have any employee policies in place at the time of hiring. This is not uncommon in new businesses; as a business grows you may suddenly find a need for employees and not be fully prepared when you begin to hire. A thoughtful job description will assist with hiring of the right employee. Clearly defined policies and procedures that outline expectations and consequences can help reduce misunderstandings between employer and employee. Job descriptions and policies and procedures are not meant to be an exhaustive list of duties and responsibilities but they lay the foundation for what the employee can expect.

If this happens to be the case, I would encourage you to plot a timeline (this corrective change will not happen overnight) and let your employees know that you would like to begin formalizing your business by developing job descriptions and policies and procedures. Let your employees know the purpose for this decision – that you want your business to be prepared for anything and be successful. Involve the employees so they realize you value their input or opinions. Plan specific times for the process and keep it upbeat and non-threatening. You might ask your employees to write their own job descriptions based on their perceptions while you write your expectations and then together compare and discuss the two descriptions. You will also want to develop a performance evaluation based on the duties assigned; develop accountability measures that include consequences for both fulfillment and non-fulfillment of duties; let your employee know that you want them to succeed and set up regular times to evaluate progress. This does not have to be a time-consuming, burdensome task. Continued communication will allow the employee to seek help or express concerns and will also allow you, the employer, to guide and mentor the employee.

There are many management programs or strategies that you could adopt. If this approach seems overwhelming, seek the help of a coach, mentor, the Wyoming Small Business Development Center or other professionals.