In this first of a three part article, we will take a look at "difficult" employees-who they are.  We will then focus on the types of difficult employees, followed by how best to handle them.  What you read may surprise you.

All organizations have difficult employees.  And like it or not, all managers and supervisors will experience difficult employees sooner or later.  As a manager, it is important to remember that if your employees are not doing their jobs according to prescribed standards, you have to share in the responsibility for their below-par performance.  Until this is recognized, you cannot begin to handle the difficult employee.

What is a difficult employee?

Someone who does not fully meet the performance standards of the job as defined by his or her job description.  A difficult employee is not necessarily a bad person, but an employee whose level of  performance fails to meet expectations.  If expectations are not met, a performance problem exists and you have a difficult employee.  Almost all employees, including managers, have had times when they did not perform according to their company's expectations.  When expectations are not met, we must see it as a performance problem and not a bad employee.  Therefore, your goal as a manager is to take the problem out of the employee, not to take out the employee.

Obviously, termination is the quickest way to solve an immediate performance problem.  However, if it is used as the main strategy every time an employee makes a mistake, or does not do something well, it will be very difficult to find employees to work for you.  Not to mention the wrongful termination lawsuits you may have to deal with.

Turnover is costly

Whenever you prematurely or inappropriately terminate a problem employee, you are costing your company money.  Some of the major costs of turnover include time and money to recruit and hire new employees, training new employees, unemployment compensation and damage to company morale.  It has been estimated that it costs $8,500 to select, hire and train an entry level secretary.  Obviously, higher level positions cost more to replace.

The best and least expensive way to deal with a problem employee is to work on improving the performance problem.  Improvement usually occurs whenever effort is made to improve performance.

To be continued in Part 2.