Photo by Scott Rodgerson on Unsplash

The Toxic Employee

There are all types of struggling employees, but the toxic one is in a class all by herself.  The poor performer, the socialite, the constant smoke-breaker can be irritants.  But the toxic employee is the one who makes people feel physically sick when they have to deal with her.

As a co-worker, you can find ways to avoid the toxic one.  As a subordinate, you can ignore a toxic boss, find another job, and / or commiserate with your co-workers.  But as the boss, you have to deal with this person and minimize the effect she has on the team.  If you are able to fire her, it will be the best day of your work life.

But when you have the toxic employee, you must deal with it for the sake of your team.  Not just their daily mental health, but also for your team’s – and your own – reputation.  Even if you have a great reputation as a manager, people will avoid your team to avoid him.

Definition of a Toxic Employee

I researched “toxic employee” for this blog, and the closest thing I found to a definition that resonated with me was someone who impacts the entire team.  I would go farther to say that the impact becomes physical.  I know co-workers who came down with headaches, stomach aches, and back aches from the stress of dealing with a particularly toxic individual.

One of the toxic employees I dealt with (yes, I had more than one in my career)  – we’ll call her “Gertrude” – was a hard worker, in theory. She would do any task you asked and do it with such thoroughness that she made everyone else miserable with it. She would make assumptions that if she was told to do X, she needed to do Y as well.  When asked to order supplies, she cleaned out the supply cabinet and rearranged everything in it, then created a system.

Now on the surface, that sounds great.  But her Gestapo methods to enforce her system caused several in the office to never use the supply cabinet.  When they needed pens and post-it notes, they bought those things themselves, or went to supply cabinets in other areas where they had sympathetic friends.  In the end, it stayed neat and tidy because no one else wanted to go near it.

Other managers noticed Gertrude’s drive to completion.  A previous boss called her “the best employee I ever had.”  I was speechless when I heard that; anyone who caused so much distress in her wake would never be my “best employee.”  Even though her self-awareness was low, she did realize that I did not hold her in high esteem, and after some clashes, she eventually left my department.

Post Gertrude

I was ready for blowback, braced for the rumors that I was a terrible boss. But what I heard was, “Your department is so much easier to deal with now.”  And in fact, I could feel the atmosphere of the group relax.  People even wanted to come to work for me, because they trusted me to make tough decisions and take action.

Taking the Hard Way over the Easy Way

Dealing with a toxic employee is one of the hardest things you’ll do as a manager.  It’s also one of the best.  It shows that you’re paying attention to the whole team, that you’re willing to make hard decisions, and be persistent and consistent enough to handle sticky performance problems.  It can be draining, but in the end, it’s worth it.  In my next blog, we’ll go into specifics on how to take care of yourself while you deal with Gertrude.