Behavioral toxicity is a very profound subject. Psychologists suggest that most toxic people are a product of their upbringing, surrounding environments, and in some cases, genetics. However, toxic employees in the workplace can be hazardous as their presence can lead to good people leaving the workplace. As in a workplace, employees and employers do not have an obligation to deal with toxic people like the social environment where people have the compulsion to tolerate toxicity in the name of relationships.
Also, managing toxic employees in a remote workplace can be done efficiently with intelligent employee monitoring solutions like RemoteDesk.We will try to frame an outline for a unique strategy to deal with and identify toxic employees in the workplace.
What is a Toxic Employee?
• Rude and Disrespectful
Toxic people in the workplace express their prejudices more openly. They rarely show empathy toward their colleagues and display rude attitudes. People with toxic traits use sarcasm as a tool to put others down during conversations.
• Confrontational and Aggressive
It is challenging for toxic people to stay away from aggression. They put across unreasonable demands and show aggression and confrontation if any missouts happen. These employees use aggression as a tool to intimidate others to establish dominance.
• Engage in the Blame game
Toxic people do not take responsibility for things quickly and always want to shift the blame to others if anything goes wrong. Such people use their authority to hide their flaws and mistakes.
• Exhibit Poor Work Ethics
People with toxic traits often display poor work ethics and essential discipline and adherence issues. Toxic people keep finding ways to dodge the processes and move forward.
• Shows Signs of Dissatisfaction Always
These people show a minimal amount of gratitude. On the other hand, they always find a reason to complain and crib over things around them. They expect too much in return for too little.
• Pretentious to Portray Self as Supremely Knowledgeable
Toxic people like to believe that they know it better than others. They show little regard for others with similar or superior knowledge. They enjoy self-praise and enjoy the company of people who echo their thoughts.
Impact of Toxic Employees on Business Productivity
Workforce management is not just about paying at par with the industry standard. Employees also want to be respected and included in the true sense in their workplace. American Psychological Association stated in their Work and Well Being survey that out of 1501 respondents, 32% of employees experienced emotional exhaustion and felt stressed and low in interest/motivation/energy at work. It will not be a surprise that these employees will consider leaving their jobs despite the financial gains they are getting from them.
Similar cases are coming up in remote work scenarios as well. However, a toxic employee in a remote workspace can do less damage, but still, their presence in the system can be harmful. Hence, in the market, employee management solutions like RemoteDesk are making an impact by bringing transparency to the working procedures and helping the managers to be fair.
How To Handle Toxic Employees?
Ignoring toxic Behavior at the workplace is a very hazardous decision. Employees with a balanced approach and will to work ethically would not like to deal with toxicity at work. Therefore, management should have a clear vision for a roadmap to identify toxic employees at the workplace and bring them on the right path.
These are some of the Tips for Handling Toxic People in the Workplace
• Dig Deeper into the Behavior
Sometimes, a little counseling can reveal new things when you have to manage toxic coworkers. Someone can have a mental illness that may improve with thorough medical assistance, and in such cases, people still have hope to behave correctly if treated well and in time.
• Provide Direct Feedback
Any toxic behavior should get candid, balanced, and direct feedback. Giving hints to such people is never helpful, and managers should inform that where and how their Behavior affects people around them.
• Comment on the Behavior, not Character
A vital part of a healthy discussion with a toxic employee is that the feedback should address the incident and their behavior. Never label or provide comments on their personality or Character, which can lead to a bitter encounter and will not have the impact it should have.
• Explain Consequences
Toxic employees must receive clear information about what consequences they will face if they refuse to improve their approach, and this will give them a clear directive to change their attitude. Employee monitoring tools like RemoteDesk can be handy for checking their working patterns and stating the consequences.
• Document Every Conversation
We learned that toxic people exhibit poor work ethics, so every communication with them should be appropriately documented. Hence, any lapse in the documentation and expect a push back in the process to manage toxic coworkers in the future.
• Separation Strategy in Case of Extreme Chaos
As a last resort, managers should use their authority to separate the toxic employees from the rest. This will stop the negative effect on the productivity of the rest of the people and provide some relief in their work environment. The toxic employee should be assigned tasks and responsibilities where the least number of people are involved.
• Toxicity is a Socio-Economical Hazard: Deal with It Now
Emotional stability is essential for anyone to perform to the best of their abilities and progress in their career. If people are dealing with toxicity around them, their focus will indeed shift & productivity will go down. Indeed, suppose the processes and decisions of any organization are procedure-centric and transparent. In that case, the minimal margin will be there for people to use their discretion, which may result from their toxic attitude. When is the right time to fire a toxic employee? It is something subjective matter. Hence, companies should focus on crafting robust work culture-related policies to deal with toxic employees effectively.
