I’ve had my share of dealing with difficult employees and I honestly believe that I went through those situations to share this blog post with you today.
Dealing with Difficult employees is very common in the work place. In fact, when I network with other childcare business owners, most of the complaints are about staff issues. The top complaints that I hear from employers include:
- Tardiness
- Gossiping
- absenteeism
- Bad Attitudes
If you are dealing with any of the above situations with an employee, just know that there is a solution. Again, I have experienced all of the above and I want to share my story with you.
In 2005, I was dealing with an employees with a very bad attitude. In fact, her attitude was so bad that the other employees were complaining about her to me. The employee would even complain to parents about the center and was gossiping with other staff members.
That one employee was destroying the moral in my center. Because of my lack of experience in that area, I did not confront her right away and this caused the problem to get out of control.
I took a one week vacation that year and I bought a book, written by John Maxwell titled: “Winning with People.” That book gave me so much understanding on why this employee was behaving in that manner. The employee was hurting within and in most cases when someone is hurting, they tend to hurt others around them.
I decided to get to know this employee including; getting to know about what was going on at home. Once she discovered that I cared, she opened up to me and she became one of my best employees. In fact, in my absence she made a great team leader and a role model for the other staff members. Moreover, when I would hire new employees…I would pair them up with her for 2-days for training.
In summary, my night mare with that employee turned into a positive situation when I decided to seek understanding, get to know the employee and let her know that I cared.
If you find yourself dealing with a difficult employee, here are some steps that you can take to help you to deal with the situation:
- Document the behavior
- Hold a meeting with the employee
- Ask questions to get understanding
- Let the employee know that your goal is to help them as much as you can
- Express your expectations and make them clear
- Review your policy on the issue at hand (if applicable)
- Review what you have discussed in the meeting
- Create a corrective action plan, hold the employee accountable and set a follow-up meeting date
To Your Success,
Shiketa Morgan
For more employee management tips, join my Center Owner eclub.
The Child Care Business Owner Institute 
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