Do you find that you have to put up with some particularly irksome habits from some of your team members?
What are the most common employee bad habits that we have to deal with on a frequent basis?
And how do you quickly get on top of this potentially annoying and vexing behaviour before your entire business buckles under the weight of sheer frustration?
I’m not necessarily talking about the Big Serious Problems that should obviously be dealt with in a Big Serious Manner.
I’m more concerned with those smaller gripes and peeves which may seem relatively harmless in comparison, but still have the power to escalate into a major headache unless tackled effectively.
I feel quite lucky on the whole in that I don’t have to put up with too many bad habits from the Martin Print team.
Yes, it’s quite annoying when Josh suddenly breaks out into bellowing song during a particularly quiet moment in the design studio, causing the rest of us to fall out of our chairs in surprise.
I also get a little bit disgruntled when Old Bert insists on offering me a chocolate pilchard every single morning, despite the fact that I’ve been telling him repeatedly throughout the last seven years that I don’t like them. At all.
However, both of those problems were quickly solved with the help of my new novelty snowman earmuffs, so I would say that I’ve had a pretty easy escape.
I’m sure that some of the other Martin Print team members would have a thing or two to say about my own bad habits, but this Blog article is far too short to go into all that.
Not every business owner has it as easy as me though, and some bad habits have slightly bigger implications.
Down at Smokey Joe’s Small Business Bar the other night, I almost spilt my drink in terror when Strange Simon came rushing through the doors with an anguished howl.
“Monkeys! My office is full of little monkeys! How am I supposed to run an effective business when I employ a bunch of mannerless monkeys with utterly ridiculous habits?! I can’t take it anymore!!”
I calmed him down by buying him a drink and pulling out a report (from my infinite pockets) which I hoped he may find useful.
Recruitment Coach recently conducted a survey in which business owners were asked to rank the worst employee habits of all in order of annoyance.
Let’s take a look at the top results, along with some brief snippets of advice on how to tackle each bad habit before you’re driven completely round the bend…
Have you seen the time?
The chart-topper on this list of pesky peeves was employees who are consistently late to work or staff meetings.
This may seem like a fairly trivial matter to some – particularly to the employee involved! – but it can develop into a serious problem if allowed to continue unchecked.
In many cases, the employee may not be acutely aware that their lack of punctuality is an issue, especially if they’ve been allowed to get away with it for any length of time.
Make sure that you remind the employee of the expectations required by the business, and why punctuality is so important.
It could be the case that the employee has specific reasons for being late, and you may be able to help thrash out a potential solution.
But at the end of the day, the employee should also be aware that it’s ultimately their own responsibility to turn up on time and fulfill their side of the contract.
Mobile Phone addiction
I’m sure we all know people who…oh, hang on a second, I’ve got a Facebook notification on my phone. Yay, somebody I haven’t seen for 20 years likes the latest photograph of my cat in a hat!
Great stuff. Now…where was I?
Ah yes. I’m sure we all know people who can’t last for two whole minutes without checking and using their phone. It’s a pain in everyday life, but it’s an even bigger pain in the office.
Firstly, make absolutely sure that the employee is indeed regularly using their phone for non-business reasons before diving into the situation. You’re going to end up looking a little silly if it turns out that they were in fact handling crucial business tasks.
Only when you’re absolutely certain of the facts, should you take the employee to one side and explain how their personal phone use is harming productivity and having a negative impact on their performance.
Making a Mess of It
Figuring highly on the list of bad habits is employees who don’t clean up after themselves.
You know the type I mean. The kind of people who’ll happily create a mess in the office or eating area, then walk away from the scene with an innocent whistle.
It’s important here that any conversation you have with such an employee over this matter is not focused on your own personal standards.
It shouldn’t be about what a clean and tidy person you are, and why the employee should follow your shining example.
It should simply be about the expectation from the business as a whole, and how the rest of the business will naturally expect to see reasonable levels of behaviour from everyone when using a common or shared area.
Too Many Sick Days
Hmm.
Employees who take too many sick days is a slightly contentious inclusion in a list of supposedly ‘smaller’ bad habits.
It could actually become a very sensitive issue which needs handling with care.
The employee should obviously be aware of your business policies and the terms which they have agreed to follow, but sledgehammer tactics may do far more harm than good – for both you and your employee.
In particularly worrying situations, the best course of action may be to seek professional advice from the Fair Work Ombudsman website.
Not Dressing for the Occasion
The final gripe on the list is focused on employees who don’t wear the correct uniform or attire.
According to the surveyed respondents, it’s the fifth worst habit of all.
In a similar sort of fashion (ha!) to the problems with punctuality, it’s often the case that offending employees don’t quite grasp the gravity of the situation.
It’s not always especially helpful to simply say “That’s the rule. Follow it.”
It’s much more useful and enlightening to explain the solid reason behind the business expectation, whether it relates to brand awareness, safety, recognition from customers, or whatever.
If an employee is stepping out of line, open their eyes to the reason why and you may be pleasantly surprised by the results.
Well, I’m afraid to say that none of this really helped poor old Strange Simon.
It turns out that his office really was full of actual little monkeys, following a terrible mix-up at the recruitment agency.
I couldn’t really help him out with that particular dilemma, although I did buy him a few packets of peanuts from the bar.
But have any of your own employees ever displayed any particularly annoying habits not mentioned in the list above?
How do you generally deal with bad habits in the office?
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