Tips In Dealing With Negative Employees For A Better New Year

Jan 3, 2019Blog, Employee Training

Companies will always have at least one negative employee but it can infect another workforce if it is not addressed.

One person that assumes negativity on almost every situation and find flaws in almost everything.

There could be different reasons why: they don’t like their job, they don’t like the company, they don’t like their workmates or they don’t like the management. The methods to deal with these problems depend on what is causing this negativity.

Here’s what you need to know: Why are they negative? What caused them to be like this?

Believe it or not, negativity can be caused by different sources and it can even come from as far as their childhood. Knowing what to do and how to address these things can help you and your employees to overcome these problems.

Here’s what you can do when dealing with negative employees:

Don’t avoid the problem

Brushing off such behavior and accepting it because you believe “it’s just their behavior” may cause you bigger problems. If you are an employee with negative co-workers, this could work, but if you are the boss and you fail to address such problems, they may spread the negativity within your company faster than you can imagine. It may not seem that bad but it may have a big impact on your company culture. 

Listen to their complaints 

Be open to what they have to say, you may be able to pinpoint what particular attribute at work is making them negative. Ask them what is causing their negative attitude at work.

Allowing them to open up helps them overcome such, but remind them that personal issues should not affect the way they work professionally. Often, people repeat banter about the same issue because they feel like no one is listening to them or they are not given any means of resolving their problems.

Don’t take their complaints personally and never be defensive. Keep your actions professional even if it is a complaint towards you.

Help them feel included within the workplace and find ways to communicate with them effectively. Dealing with different people means you have to find distinct ways to deal with them depending on their attitudes.

Understand their needs 

Sometimes, people complain a lot but do not want any advice. This applies to employees, too. Their negativity might be caused by their need to be understood.

Listen and understand where they are coming from, but put limits because they may be going around the same thing over and over again. Some complaints may just come from something irrelevant or it should not be complained about at all.

Do not invalidate their thoughts, rather, impart your positive outlook on things and keep things professional. Let them know that you are concerned and you are worried that these problems can have big consequences if not taken care of.

Create feasible solutions

Inform them of the impacts of their negative behavior in the company, start it by asking them how they are, ask questions that will encourage them to open up. Give them a situation and use it as an example, move forward to the consequences and give them solutions on how they can better themselves.

But what can you do to reduce the negativity in the department? Allow your employees to have opportunities to give their insights about the management and company decisions.

One of the causes of having negative employees is when the manager does not allow their staff to have a voice in the company. This also opens a door for you to backtrack on their achievements and remind them of the importance of what they do.

Acknowledge the positive aspects of their work and motivate them in the process.

Do not make excuses 

Their actions can be controlled by them, too. Stop them from putting blame on someone else and finding faults.

They can control how they can cope with problems and this should not be an excuse to be negative. However, if an employee is facing a personal matter, you have to sympathize with them and allow them to take some time to recover on their own but always offer a helping hand if they need someone to talk to.

Give them feedback and compliments

Giving them strong feedback can be a tough job but you can effectively do it without offending them. It’s easy to complain about an employee, but giving them feedback directly ensures success.

You must be able to lower their defenses and give them ways on how they can improve. Letting them know where they lack aids a lot in keeping them on the right track.

If negativity in the workplace still persists, always keep them addressed and find better solutions and include your employee’s insight before starting over with new ways to resolve these issues. This will stop it from spreading like a virus throughout the company, ensuring that the culture is unharmed.

 

If you have any concerns, let us know!