7 Signs You Have a Bad Apple Employee

Challenging times may bring out the best or the worst in people. With months of recent stress in our personal and business life due to the pandemic, some employees may be showing their true colors. For those employees who are not shining brightly, it may be time to assess if they should remain a member of your team. This is a time when you need everyone committed to your company’s mission. Employees who are not in sync with your organization may have been disenchanted before recent pandemic events. Burnout, lack of promotions, low company morale, or other company and personal life conditions may be the root cause. These issues will be heightened during stressful times.

Behaviors of a bad apple employee can spread like a virus causing significant damage to your organization. Business owners and managers often ignore early signs that an employee is not committed and often fail to promptly address the issue. An employee’s negative behaviors, reinforced by lack of action by management, can grow out of control. Once out of control, the damage to the organization has already been done and may take considerable time and effort to correct. Bes to address the issues quickly before other employees are negatively impacted.

How do you know if you have a bad apple employee? Here are 7 signs that an employee has gone sour:

1. Repeatedly making the same mistake
2. Asking for special treatment
3. Constantly complaining
4. Frequently late or absent from work
5. Unwilling to follow established processes
6. Lack of initiative
7. Frustrating co-workers
Many hiring managers prolong the agony created by bad apple employees by giving them multiple chances to correct their attitude, behaviors, actions, and overall performance. Hiring managers do this for two reasons. They like to believe that people will change or they are fearful of the emotional and time drain of firing and hiring someone new. In my experience consulting with many hiring managers in these situations, most bad apple employees are eventually terminated as they often fail to correct their negative behavior and attitudes.

Terminating an employee can be a tough decision, yet sometimes it must be done. And in the case of a bad apple employee, the sooner . . . the better.

Here are three strategies for planning an upcoming termination and replacement hire:

1. Let the employee go, and then hire replacement.
2. Hire replacement discreetly, and then terminate the employee.
3. Counsel out respectfully; allow them time to find a job while you search for a replacement.

The method you use will depend on the degree of damage the employee has caused or the relevancy of their work to daily operations of your business.

If you need help in a transitional hiring situation and want to hire a new employee who is a good fit for your company, give us a call at 317-578-1310