Toxic workers pollute environment for others

Floor Talk: Jeffrey Garr, CEO and founder of HR Knowledge Inc., which counsels small- and midsized businesses on human resources issues, speaks with Kathy  Asinas, senior HR adviser, right, and Christyna Duffy, HR services team coordinator, at his office in Mansfield. / PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO
Floor Talk: Jeffrey Garr, CEO and founder of HR Knowledge Inc., which counsels small- and midsized businesses on human resources issues, speaks with Kathy Asinas, senior HR adviser, right, and Christyna Duffy, HR services team coordinator, at his office in Mansfield. / PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

Employees who snipe at the boss, bicker with co-workers or consistently complain are becoming common at workplaces of all sizes. And in some cases, companies would do best to reassign or get rid of them, say human resources specialists.

Sounds too harsh? Not according to a national survey of employees, undertaken earlier this year by the leadership development and training company Fierce Inc.

The survey of more than 500 employees found 80 percent thought management wasn’t doing enough to neutralize toxic employees.

The survey also found that four out of five employees thought a toxic or troublesome employee was extremely debilitating to morale, and not worth any special talent or skill that could compensate for the attitude.

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Troublesome employees can sometimes be turned around, but if their attitude can’t be addressed, they can cause deep harm to workplace efficiency and productivity, according to human resources professionals and legal advisers.

And they are in every occupation, according to Jeffrey Garr, CEO and founder of HR Knowledge Inc. of Mansfield. The company advises small- and midsized companies on human resources issues.

The toxic employee could be anything from a negative influence around the office, to someone who is actively disruptive, he said.

They might be unhappy with their status, their pay, their benefits or anything in particular, but they spread their misery, he said. “If they’re attitude is bad and they’re toxic, that’s a very bad thing for a company to have,” Garr said.

The concern for management, he added, is that a negative attitude will spread within the workplace. “They will change the culture,” he said.

According to the Fierce survey, the employee responses indicated a disconnect between their stance on toxic co-workers, and how they perceive the company leadership is handling them. “Most of us spend a large percentage of our lives in the office, and our colleagues impact our lives significantly,” said Susan Scott, founder and CEO of Fierce, based in Seattle. “When those individuals bring us down, it plays a huge role in how well we are able, and willing, to do our jobs.”

To neutralize toxic employees, according to Garr, management might need to sit down and have a face-to-face talk and advise the employee that unless something changes, a disciplinary action might be taken.

Robert M. Shea, an attorney who specializes in employment law, said employers often seek legal advice before dismissing someone, in part to determine if the firing would put the company at risk of a lawsuit.

“Most workforces have people who are problematic to some degree,” said Shea, an attorney with Morse, Barnes-Brown & Pendleton PC, in Waltham, Mass.

He advises management to document issues, because often the toxicity-related problems arise outside the routine employee-review process. In cases where the employee’s behavior goes beyond merely bad, to activities such as racial or sexual harassment, the “toxic” behavior may compel an employer to take action, he said.

“The law, generally, expects the employer to investigate and take prompt remedial action,” he said.

According to the Fierce survey, the reasons why employees turn toxic vary, ranging from feeling undervalued, to lack of recognition, to interpersonal conflict. It found that more than half of employees argue with their co-workers at least once a month.

According to Shea, management may follow a routine of progressive discipline, from an oral warning, to a written warning, to a disciplinary action. And in some instances, employers engage a counselor to work with the person.

Sometimes listening to the problem employee gives management valuable feedback, according to Garr.

Good managers will listen to what the employee says, because their attitude may reveal an underlying problem in the workplace.

In Garr’s experience, the problem generally will not fix itself. If the employee is working “at-will” or without an employment contract or agreement, the problem may lead to dismissal, depending on the situation.

To some degree, he said, the hiring process can reduce the problem. When hiring, employers should consider behavioral tests that may indicate poor attitudes. And checking references is critical.

Although many companies will only verify the dates of employment for former employees, there are ways that a hiring officer can check more thoroughly, including having the prospective employee sign a waiver that holds the former employer harmless for information shared.

“There are a number of ways out there,” he said. •

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