Problem workers can be a challenge

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, July 27, 2006

Your most productive employee drives you nuts – so nuts that you realize you just don’t like her.

But she’s so valuable to your small business.

So what do you do?

Any company owner who has employees is likely at some point to run into the problem of the talented and highly competent but difficult worker. Small-business owners who have been in that situation recommend dealing with employee problems when they’re in the embryonic stage – the longer you let things fester, the harder it will be to resolve them. And along the way, your company, including your other staffers, are likely to suffer.

Carol Fass, who owns a publicity firm bearing her name in New York, recalled two workers who were quite valuable – up to a point.

“They were very good publicists and excellent writers and excellent with the clients, but they didn’t create an environment here that I enjoyed – I didn’t want to have an environment full of tension and friction,” Fass said.

So, Fass said, she asked both workers to leave; they were poisoning the atmosphere in the company, and Fass realized she was losing the respect of her other employees. Her business has survived quite well without her difficult staffers.

“No one is irreplaceable,” Fass said.

But Fass doesn’t believe that firing a difficult worker is the only solution. She recalled another situation with an entirely different outcome:

“I had one person, a young woman, and when she first started working for me was fresh and kind of presumptuous,” Fass said. “So I said, ‘You really shouldn’t be talking to me this way.’ She totally changed, she really got it and she worked for me for many years and I adored her.”

Fass was doing one of the most important things an owner or any boss should do, give an employee feedback. Human resources consultants advocate communicating with workers on a regular basis, letting them know what they’re doing right and wrong. Feedback is probably the only way you can get a difficult staffer to change for the better.

Many small-business owners understandably are queasy about confronting staffers, for a variety of reasons. It certainly can be an unpleasant encounter.

But, said Nancy Shenker, principal in ONswitch, a marketing firm in Thornwood, N.Y., “you have to learn to be comfortable communicating with people because sometimes they may not even be aware of the things they do that are driving other people crazy.”

Sometimes, she noted, the boss may be part of the problem.

“Make it ‘we’ – how can we work better together?” Shenker said. “Maybe they have a short list of things that you do that drives them crazy.”

Shenker said some problems might be avoided from the get-go. She tells incoming staffers some of her pet peeves, so they’ll know to avoid some of the behavior that can cause difficulty.

In the end, though, even if a worker is very talented and helps the business, he or she could be doing a company more harm than good.

“If somebody really gets under your skin and it’s a small office, it can get in the way of work being done,” Shenker said. “Any relationship that ultimately is a toxic relationship ultimately has to end.”

But beware: If you do decide to fire a worker, you need to be sure that you have a solid case in the event that the dismissed staffer turns around and sues you. You’ll need to be able to show that you warned the employee about his or her behavior – that feedback you should be giving your employees will be part of your side of the story.

Check your local library and bookstore for numerous books on dealing with employee issues.

Joyce Rosenberg writes about small business for the Associated Press.

Small-business help

If dealing with employee issues isn’t your strong point, it’s probably a good idea to consult with a human resources professional, or contact a volunteer at SCORE, the organization of retired executives who give free advice to small-business owners. You can reach SCORE at www.score.org or by calling 800-634-0245.

Small-business help

If dealing with employee issues isn’t your strong point, it’s probably a good idea to consult with a human resources professional, or contact a volunteer at SCORE, the organization of retired executives who give free advice to small-business owners. You can reach SCORE at www.score.org or by calling 800-634-0245.