Do you  have a troublesome employee? Someone who prefers to talk-down to people, gossip, is overly negative or makes others uncomfortable by their behavior?

Are you afraid to do something about it? Is your fear of a law suit, retalitation or bigger problems holding you back from doing what is right for your company?

Yes, this is a difficult situation to deal with and in fact – it should never become easy.  I have always believed that terminating people should require a lot of thought and another look at other options. However, I am also realistic that sometimes when all is said and done – you are left with no choice. After all a bad employee can hurt your business in so many ways – how are they treating your customers? How are they doing their job? How are they working with others? Are they turning your workplace sour? For a reason I don’t yet understand – a negative attitude is more infectious than a positive one. How I wish this wasn’t the case.

You can not let the fear of possible legal repercussions get in your way – you have to do what is right for your business. If you follow progressive discipline, talk to your people and give them a chance to improve, you should be ok. (each case needs to be treated individually and this post is not a substitution for legal advice).

How do you go about telling the employee that it’s not working out?

Be honest! Explain how you view their behavior, how others may have commented on it, how clients have gone out of their way to make a comment to you, or however else the negative behavior is affecting your or your business.

Explain how it is affecting your business. Are employees leaving? Are clients leaving?

Tell them how their behavior has left you no choice. I am assuming that this isn’t the first time you are talking to the person about this. Make it clear that due to their behavior you are left with no other option as it could cost you employees and/or clients.

Don’t over explain or justify yourself. It is a natural reaction to feel sorry for the person after all they are loosing their source of income and its also natural to want to over explain the choice you are making.  This can actually cause you more problems as you may accidentally say something you shouldn’t and that could land you in legal trouble. Be brief and to the point.

It won’t be easy, take a deep breathe and know you are doing the right thing.  Hopefully in the future this won’t happen to you again.