Toxic Employees

Toxic Employees


It is common to hear HR professionals talk about talent problems, and there’s a good reason for that. Finding, developing, and retaining the best talent is a nearly impossible challenge. However, there’s an even bigger problem that could give you sleepless nights: What if your most talented employee is also the most difficult for you to manage?

“Is The Person I’m Interviewing Going to Be a Problem and a Toxic Employee?”

Hiring new employees is a massive job, but hiring the RIGHT people is even trickier.

As a hiring manager, you should never put yourself in the sticky position of hiring someone who is not a fit for your organization’s day-to-day operations. There is nothing worse than putting yourself in the challenging situation of hiring an employee, discovering that they do not play well in a team, and later finding it difficult to let them go.

Still, there are ways that you can use to figure out problematic employees during their job interview and, if hired, how to handle them to avoid impacting negatively on your current employees and your business.

Ask About Frequent Moves from One Job to Another  

One of the red flags you should look out for whenever conducting interviews is a resume that shows the prospect moving jobs regularly. If the candidate is as brilliant as he appears to be, few employers would be willing to let them go easily.

Talk to References 

Today, LinkedIn provides an excellent way for you to find and connect with people who worked with the candidate in their previous jobs. Ask them if they are open to having a short conversation about your candidate and read between the lines.

Get the opinion of your team  

A troublesome candidate could fool you or someone else, but no matter how clever they are, they cannot fool an entire interview panel. When you carry out team interviews, it is much easier to sniff out potentially toxic employees.

An excellent way to get your team involved is to shortlist two or three of the most talented prospects, then have the group make the final decision together.

“I’ve Hired a Toxic Employee. Now What?”

If you hire an employee and find that they are difficult for the rest of your team to work with, there are only two options open to you:

Take A Risk, But Within Reason 

Sometimes, a difficult employee is a “one in a million” talent, and you may decide to take a risk on hiring them. This requires you to take a firm stand on their behavior, provide them with challenging projects, identify people they can work well with, and put them in their team. 

Sometimes, you can understand the reason for their challenging behavior and find a solution that works for both the company and the employee.

However, if the toxic behavior persists, you will have to take decisive action sooner rather than later.

Don’t Be Afraid To Get Rid Of a Toxic Employee 

No matter how challenging it is to find top talent, you must draw the line somewhere. Life is too short for you and your existing employees to spend long, miserable hours in the office with people that you do not like being around. You do not have to be friends with all your employees, but you and your employees should like coming to work and enjoy being with co-workers.

If a toxic employee is upsetting others or causing disruptions, it may be time to pull the plug.

Parting Shot

For your business to succeed, you might have to find ways to manage talented troublemakers. Naturally, you want to maintain your best and brightest people, but it should never be at the expense of a progressive, healthy team dynamic.

About nexus IT group

Search Google for best IT staffing agencies near me and you’ll see nexus IT group near the top of the page.  Our IT staffing agency recruits top IT talent in large cities like Seattle, Dallas, Kansas City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Washington, D.C., Boston, and New York City.  If you have an immediate tech opening, or are an IT job seeker looking to advance your IT career, you’ve come to the right IT staffing firm, contact nexus IT group. We have access to highly skilled, tech talent most recruiters can’t easily get in front of, so let our IT recruiting team show you why so many companies trust our staffing agency with their most important IT hires.

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