Lazy, incompetent employees are easily identifiable and all that Managers have to do is to hand over their dues and let them go. But it is another type of worker, who while seeming to be performing a reasonably good job, is actually involved in undermining organisations.
How do they do it? In a variety of ways, according to Jeff Haden, contributing editor for Inc. He says, in an article, that for instance, these are the people who would choose to keep quiet during meetings and as soon as it is over, hold a ‘parallel’ meeting with the participants casting doubts over the decisions arrived at the meeting.
Thus from a position of having discussed various aspects of an issue, incorporating suggestions and laying out a roadmap, suddenly doubts arise. This particular employee may even offer his services despite his objections and thus muddy the waters for everyone else, who may feel demotivated.
Then again, there are others who simply refuse to pitch in at times of need giving excuses like “That’s not my job.” Haden says in small firms, it is important for employees to be more flexible and do everything that needs to be done.
This could mean physical labour like a Manager having to help load a truck or the accounting staff to be on the shop floor to fill a rush order. But any task an employee is asked to perform, barring illegal, unethical or immoral should be carried out. In fact, good employees notice a problem by themselves and pitch in to resolve it without even waiting for orders.
On the other side, all those who stay away claiming that it is not their job, have the effect of making what could have amounted to a cohesive team effort to something dysfunctional.
Yet there are those who would like to rest on the laurels of their past performances. However, the only real measure of any employee’s value is the tangible contribution he or she makes on a daily basis. This type of attitude is contagious and soon other employees would feel that they too have earned the right to relax.
Those who claim to bank upon their ‘experience’ without bothering to translate it into better skills, better performance and greater achievements also contribute to toxicity. It is not the years that a person puts on a job that matters but the things that he or she has done.
The “office gossips” are yet another form of ‘toxic’ employee. Good bosses would encourage staff to talk face to face and resolve issues thus preventing back-biting and gossip to pollute the atmosphere.
Toxic employee use peer pressure to prevent others from working hard. Thus, many a newcomer would be told that he or she was working too hard and it was making the rest of the staff look bad.
While a good employee would want to strive for improvement and efficiency, the toxic ones want others to do less so that they themselves do not lose out.
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But then, the toxic employees also like to corner all the glory for themselves even in team efforts. Nothing important is ever accomplished alone, even if some people love to act like it is.
A good employee or good team player would share the glory by giving credit to others. He would praise and show his appreciation and allow others to shine. That’s especially true for an employee in a leadership position–he celebrates the accomplishments of others secure in the knowledge that their success reflects well on him, too.
The toxic employee is always ready to blame others unlike some who step up to accept the criticism or abuse confident in their ability to handle any such situations.
