Every company will have disgruntled employees. It doesn’t matter how great a company is doing, where it is based, how many employees it has and what kind of policies are in place for the professionals. There are disgruntled employees in Apple, Sony, Microsoft, IBM, Virgin, Warner Bros, American Express and Starbucks. There are disgruntled employees in the mom and pop shops in a small town, the diners on the freeways and in the local police department.
Everyone cannot be pleased, ever. No product can please the entire population of the world. No political leader can get a hundred percent of votes from the electorate. Likewise, no company will have every employee happy and satiated. From a certain company policy working against an employee to another being denied a promotion which he or she may or may not have deserved, there are innumerable reasons for professionals to have a grudge against someone in the company or the company as a whole.
Here’s a brief guide on dealing with disgruntled employees.
Identify the disgruntled employees or employee. You may come across an employee behaving quite weirdly and not being professional enough in the workplace. Such signs may be obvious indications of disgruntlement but they are not surefire. You need to know for certain who is disgruntled with you or your company. A disgruntled employee may not show any signs and may secretly work to sabotage an operation. A disgruntled employee may not have any complaints and still be selling secrets of the company to a rival. Don’t buy the obvious signs always. Accept the reality that people can take any drastic steps when they are disgruntled. As a manager, supervisor or the owner of the company, you should observe every employee of yours or team member. Whenever they show signs of abnormality, something they do that they had not done in the past or do something that is unjust, unacceptable or outright wrong, it is then that you should make note of the event. Monitor more closely and you would figure out who your disgruntled employees are.
Step 1:
The first step of dealing with disgruntled employees is to keep things civil and professional. Managers or bosses often get tempted to react, frequently with verbal barrages and often quite rudely. A blast in the workplace is not what one wants. Stay calm, talk softly, try to understand what the disgruntlement is all about and try to address them if the reasons are legit. If the reasons are not legit, then don’t burst out. Instead, make notes of everything that is transpiring and you can ponder over later to come up with a strategy.
Step 2:
When you sit down to formulate an approach or a strategy, figure out if you can address the problem or if it would remain uncured. If an employee is angry or disappointed for a genuine reason, then it is the job of the manager or boss and expected of the company to have the problem addressed. If the problem is unfounded and the demands unreasonable, then either explain to the employee that what is being demanded is not just or you can consider firing that employee if he or she stands to harm your work in any way. Don’t allow problems to fester. Don’t allow disgruntled employees to have a free run. In just a few days, such workers can cause a viral outbreak and you may have more disappointed employees. It is very easy to mobilize people when there is a common cause. If the seeds were sowed in many employees, then it would be easy for that one disgruntled employee to do the rest.
Step 3:
Never come out in the open talking about the disgruntled employees. Always keep them concealed as if nothing has happened. The moment other employees come to know of someone who is disgruntled; there may be a chain reaction. You should also think of a cure or have the problem resolved before it becomes a juggernaut.
Step 4:
Don’t try to appease disgruntled employees if you have to toe a line that is not desirable. The moment you do this, many more disgruntled employees would come to the fore and would compel you to do the same. There is no end to this. If you think a certain step is right for you and your company, then you should take it and stand by it. If you appease disgruntled employees, you are empowering them. They would in turn be satisfied at first but then their intended or unintended expressing and sharing of the same encounter would stir up more troubles for you.
Step 5:
Always have your legal counsel on standby while dealing with disgruntled employees. You never know what turn the entire scenario would take and how it would develop in a very short span of time.