With the shortage of skilled workers in the healthcare industry, many healthcare organizations find themselves putting up with some toxic employees. If you find yourself in such a position, there are constructive steps you can take.
Toxic employees can lead to serious problems in the workplace, such as overall lower employee morale, lower productivity, higher absenteeism, angered patients and loss of cooperation and collaboration among staff.
In the healthcare industry, many toxic employees are allowed to continue their disruptive ways because of clinical skills, said workplace consultants Judith Lindenberger, president of the Lindenberger Group, a human resources consulting agency, and Judy Bee, a practice management consultant with the Practice Performance Group.
“Of the three components of employee evaluation – attitude, availability and ability, physicians are inclined to forgive lapses of the first two where the employee has high procedural capabilities. ‘Yeah, she’s a tough nurse but she’s good,’” said Bee.
And when doctors aren’t guilty of overlooking bad behavior among their staff, they are just as likely to be the guilty party themselves, Bee added. “Many physicians simply have no idea what it is like to work for someone else. They can be oblivious to the problem, and chew people out in front of the others.”
Overlooking toxic behavior because of clinical skill may be more tolerated in the operating room where abilities count above all else, but in an office environment, said Bee, it is a recipe for employee morale disaster.
When organizations are ready to deal with their toxic employees, they can turn to consultants for help or use some of the same steps consultants use to try to manage the situation themselves.
The first step organizations – or their hired consultants – should take is to get the most complete behavioral profile of the employee (or employees) as is possible before meeting with the employee. Creating that profile includes interviewing the managers and coworkers a toxic employee interacts with.
Once the fact-finding is complete, a meeting is arranged with the employee to present the findings. The meeting is not intended to be confrontational, Lindenberger said – just informational.
“I start by asking, ‘has anyone ever said anything to you before about …?” Lindenberger said. “Otherwise they could be blindsided. I tell them all the facts that I have. ‘On this date … On this date … On this date … .’ Then I listen to what they have to say.”
After listening to the employee’s side of the story, review with the employee the company’s policies about acceptable behavior, and explain why the behavior in question can’t happen, and, importantly, won’t be tolerated, said Lindenberger.
Organizations can also use performance reviews to address the toxic behavior, said Bee. Be direct, rather than “nice,” she said. Be specific about expectations and give examples of the unacceptable behavior.
Finally, if the toxic employee can’t come around to the required acceptable behavior, there is little choice but to part company, Bee said. “Give that employee an opportunity to find a job where showing up with a positive attitude isn’t a requirement.”