“You are a department manager in a mid-sized company that provides technology support services. You have ten employees who are required to maintain a high level of technical expertise and deliver excellent customer service. One of your employees, who has been with the company for two years, is performing at a substandard level and you have received numerous complaints from customers and coworkers. In addition, this employee has displayed confrontational behavior which has created a hostile environment. You must now meet with this employee and deliver an ultimatum regarding the need for immediate improvement or dismissal.”
Dealing with inadequate employee output can be a very delicate subject, especially if the employee in question is known for being confrontational. Luckily, you have evidence on your side. The first and most important thing to address is the customer dissatisfaction. After that, employee conflict is a necessary topic to address, as it affects morale and productivity in the workplace. Be prepared to keep your cool because you can expect from experience that this employee is going to lose his.
First, call the employee in to talk immediately. Do not let the employee know you want to talk in a few hours, as this will give him a chance to work up a counter-argument. Explain that there have been formal complaints from customers against the employee. Have these complaints prepared so you are not paraphrasing or giving the gist. It’s important to have the evidence in front of you and read it to the employee, word for word.
You can expect that employee to immediately try to defend himself and deflect the accusations. In this situation, any argument is irrelevant. No matter what the employee says to back himself up, the fact remains that customers are dissatisfied with his behavior. The customer is always right and this employee is not seeing that. Keep your calm and do not let your temper flare.
The next topic to address is employee complaints. This is a relatively more delicate subject as most cases will require a certain level of anonymity. The purpose behind this is to protect employees from confrontation or retaliation that may come from the employee you’re having a problem with. Avoid going into too much detail about what was said and when. Instead, try to summarize all the employee complaints. This will prevent any one person from being singled out.
You can expect the problem employee to argue back and attempt to accuse others of poor behavior. Listen carefully to what he has to say, but refrain from using any specifics in regards to how others will be dealt with. Remind the employee that this meeting is about his discipline, not about the discipline of others. How the behavior of others is dealt with is not his business. The employee in question is the common denominator in the issues, so the problem starts with his behavior.
Explain that the employee’s behavior is unacceptable and explain why. Customer service is the first and most important priority for a business and this employee is failing to meet the standard. Employee conflict creates an unpleasant environment which is systemic and leads to much bigger problems. The employee need not explain his actions or apologize, simply change his behavior. Tell the employee you’ll talk to him in a month as a follow-up to this meeting, during which time you can discuss any new issues that have arisen or, hopefully, not arisen.
The importance of patience cannot be overstated, here. This is an employee who is known for handling conflict poorly and you should expect that. Do not let tempers get the best of you and rely as heavily as possible on concrete information from complaints. Avoid speculation or opinions. This tactic will keep counter-arguments to a minimum, or at least make them easier to diffuse. Keeping your calm will keep you from making any decisions you feel pressured into. This type of person uses their temper as a defense mechanism.
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