Dealing with Difficult Employees: 9 Facts You Must Document And Why

By: Colleen Kettenhofen
Submitted: 2007-01-17 15:15:14
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Many managers and supervisors in my leadership training workshops come up to me privately regretting that they did not document a particular incident with an employee. A lot of times they report to me that as time went on, the difficult employee only got worse. Soon, they had to terminate the employee. Often they will say to me, “That lack of documentation came back to haunt me.” Many managers and supervisors today are overloaded, and let’s face it, documentation takes time. Unfortunately, too, for these people, they often feel they’re spending 80% of their time dealing with the difficult employees. I’m amazed at how many people in management positions really don’t know exactly what to document. So, here is a list of things to include if you’re dealing with a difficult employee.

1. Date, time and place of where you are doing the documentation in case you’d ever need to account for your whereabouts.

2. Date and time the incident occurred.

3. The difficult employee’s full name.

4. Location where the incident occurred. Was it in your office building or out in the work trenches?

5. Witnesses present. Include the names of those who saw the incident, and came to you to complain about the difficult employee and the situation. Even if you didn’t personally observe it, often when that many employees are all saying the same thing, there's usually a grain of truth to it.

6. Your action at the time. Did you say anything to the employee about this? If so, what? Be as specific as possible and stick to the facts. Remain objective not subjective.

7. The employee’s reaction. If you spoke to the employee, how did they react? Again, be as specific as possible. Stick to the facts in terms of how they acted and what they said.

8. Any other unusual things you notice about the difficult employee such as a radical change in their personality.

9. Your signature. (You don't need the employee's signature as this is simply to remind you of the facts.)

In dealing with a difficult employee, this documentation is not something you would show them. It is your observation documentation only. This is for your records and for your Human Resources department if you have one. Keep this information in a locked file and do whatever your organization’s policy requires you to do with it. Every organization is different.

When documenting stick to the facts. You want to remain objective as opposed to subjective. This way it’s less likely that the difficult employee can say, “Well, that’s just your perception. You’re just picking on me.” As long as you can remember facts and data it will be harder for them to argue with you.

There’s the chance that anything you write down, whether at work or at home, could be read in front of a jury. Take any "emotion" out of the equation. Focus on the facts and specific behaviors such as missed deadlines, or dates and times the difficult employee showed up late for work. And remember, the documentation is also to illustrate everything you tried to do to save them. For example, write down any training you provided. Because unfortunately when dealing with difficult employees, these people often fire themselves.

“As far as the courts are concerned, if it isn’t written down it’s as if it didn’t happen.” Colleen Kettenhofen

Copyright 2006 Colleen Kettenhofen

Article source: Expert Articles