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Sign Up NowHave you ever taken on a side hustle while working a full-time job? Or maybe you have a habit of grabbing office supplies for personal use? And you thought no one noticed?
The reality is, we sometimes show negative workplace habits without even being aware of them. And in many cases, your boss notices more than you think.
In a survey 214 managers were asked to describe a difficult employee they have dealt with, either now or in the past. Knowing the most common bad habits that managers notice in employees can help you avoid becoming the person who causes problems at work without meaning to.
It is no surprise that 25 percent of surveyed managers said their most difficult employees were the ones who failed to meet expected results.
Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report says only 21 percent of employees worldwide feel engaged in their jobs. That means most workers either feel disconnected from their workplace or simply do the bare minimum. This can create real problems for the companies they work for.
Weak job performance can happen for many reasons, including poor attitude or lack of teamwork. Still, improving that performance is a shared responsibility between both the employee and the manager.
Managers Also Dislike Employees Who Cannot Work Well with Others
Employees who struggle to cooperate with coworkers are clearly another major issue for managers. In fact, 24 percent of respondents said this is one of the biggest problems they deal with.
Workplace stress statistics show that 31 percent of employees feel stress because of relationship problems at work. That is why it is in everyone’s best interest to make more effort to work well as part of a team.
If you want to build strong professional relationships with coworkers, you need to earn their trust. Pay attention to what they need, and at the same time, do not hesitate to ask for help when you need support.
Ignoring Feedback or Refusing Change Can Also Cause Problems
If your manager gave you negative feedback and you chose to ignore their advice, there is a good chance that caused frustration.
More specifically, 20 percent of business leaders said a difficult employee is someone who does not respond to feedback and ignores coaching. Another 17 percent described their “problem employee” as someone who is stuck in their habits and unwilling to change.
Every workplace aims to be the kind of place where people work together and get things done well. But it only takes one rude, negative, or dishonest person to damage the whole environment. A lot of the effort you put into building a strong business can be weakened by one harmful employee if you continue to keep them around. Some difficult personalities can actually help a team by bringing different views to the table, and if handled the right way, those discussions can lead to useful outcomes. Still, there are 7 serious negative behaviors that should not be accepted in any workplace that wants to build a healthy culture and produce good results. These are the seven behaviors that need to be noticed, dealt with, and if needed, removed:
There is a clear difference between disagreeing from time to time and being negative all the time. Some employees constantly drag the team down with a bad attitude, and unless they can be kept from affecting others while still doing useful work, their behavior needs to be addressed or they may need to move on. A person must bring more benefit to the company than conflict. If they create more problems than value, they cannot be seen as a reliable or capable employee.
Some employees always seem to have a reason why their work is not finished. In many cases, they spend more time coming up with excuses than it would take to complete the task itself. When others notice that someone in a similar role, earning similar pay, is doing far less work, it hurts morale because the rest of the team ends up carrying the extra load. Letting someone continue at an unacceptable pace is not helping them. It damages your credibility as a leader and teaches them that doing the bare minimum is enough to get by.
Everyone misses work now and then, and that is normal. But some employees miss work too often or do it so regularly that the rest of the team is forced to cover for them. If repeated unexcused absences are allowed, your dependable employees may become frustrated and morale can drop. An employee may be “good,” “bad,” or “still learning,” but no one should be called “great when he/she actually shows up.”
The first six behaviors may also appear in someone who is actively trying to weaken your authority and damage trust between leadership and staff. Subversive behavior is unethical because it often stays hidden under the surface and usually comes from a deep disagreement with the company’s mission, vision, values, or culture. If someone chooses to work for a company they do not believe in, there are only two honest options. If they accept the paycheck, then they should put aside their pride and do the work the way it is expected. If they strongly disagree with how the company operates, then they should resign and look for another job. Employees should not be allowed to collect a paycheck while also working against the systems and people that make that paycheck possible. Subversive behavior is one of the most damaging forms of workplace disruption and should never be accepted. If employees see that someone acting this way is allowed to stay, the person who permits it will lose credibility, and may never fully earn back the respect of the team. In many cases, the honest, responsible, and values-driven employees will leave first, while the few toxic ones remain and lower the standard for everyone else.
Today’s workplace has also created a new kind of bully. These are people who use gossip, side conversations, and social media to weaken your organization’s mission, values, or standards. They may smile in front of you and act agreeable, then secretly copy half the office on a negative email to management. If they do not get what they want, they may start making threats about EEOC complaints, unreasonable ADA demands, possible FLSA issues, or other compliance-related concerns to pressure leadership into giving in. These quiet attacks should be looked into right away and handled directly before they damage what seemed like a stable workplace. At the same time, the real source of false claims or misleading information should be dealt with properly.
If the work matters and has real value, then failing to prepare for it is unprofessional and unfair. When an employee knows what is expected but still gives only half effort, that behavior should be corrected instead of ignored. This can happen when someone only does the minimum required, sets their own pace based on convenience, or continues doing what they have always done because no one stops them. Addressing this kind of behavior might cause that employee to leave, but most teams would rather adjust to that loss than keep covering for someone who is only doing enough to get by. Even when good replacements are hard to find, a strong team will usually handle the short-term pressure better than ongoing frustration caused by a weak performer.
Anyone can be moody or impatient once in a while, but there is a big difference between having a rough day and being consistently rude, controlling, or disrespectful. We all have off days and should be open to hearing honest feedback from trusted coworkers who can help us reset. But some people are regularly arrogant, harsh, and disruptive. Those who repeatedly treat others with disrespect are often better suited to work somewhere else rather than remain on your team.
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