Last month I had a meeting with one of my old friends, who is now VP–HR in a fairly large IT setup. He informed me that he is planning to lay off a couple of hundred people in his company, in a phased manner. What surprised me was that he mentioned that out of them around 80% are ‘difficult employees’.  I wondered aloud what was his definition of a ‘difficult employee’. What he told me was interesting and forms the basis of this post.

“In every department/organization there are few people who are arrogant, demeaning (to others), insubordinate, not trustworthy, (always) cribbing and unproductive. And these employees are a huge drain for an organization in terms of wasted time, reduced productivity, inefficiency, and ultimately resulting in customer loss.” I again asked him as to why did the team, then not take precautions while hiring? He said these are traits and sometimes it is difficult to observe them during an interview. You get to know about them only from observing them in terms of their approach, attitude, performance, productivity and feedback from co-workers and managers etc.

It sure means that ‘difficult employees’ are at the first place in the queue when it comes to being shown the door.

Based on his observation and my research, I am listing a few traits/signs that can label you as a ‘difficult employee’. They are:

Work is your foe/ additional responsibility:

I, like many people, don’t like to work long hours or during weekends. But in a down economy & competitive environment your approach towards this additional work plays a huge role in whether you are a valuable employee of the organization or not. Organizations generally perceive an employee’s worth by evaluating his/her work ethics.

Your personal problems are public knowledge:

If most of your colleagues are aware of all your personal problems, from hole in the shoe, missed breakfast, argument with friend, mismatched nailpolish, then this point is for you. No one is really interested in these kind of regular updates. This can create a sort of distraction among the other employees who already are overworked and busy in meeting deadline. You will suddenly see co-workers distancing from you. So keep your personal problem very personal.

You & your company are not on the same page:

You don’t have to be alcoholic if you work for Kingfisher beverages. But you need to understand the vision and approach of your company and work towards it. If you are heard making fun of the company or its products/services it can hamper the office environment, spirit of teamwork, your relation with co-workers and the management. The company is better off without you for the the fact that, you don’t understand and respect your work.

You don’t appreciate feedback from others:

“True feedback can put you on the elevator of learning”, says Vinayak Joshi, CEO, Learning Concepts, an e- learning solutions provider. If you don’t take feedback positively it means you are limiting your learning and your knowledge and you have very little chance to improve your weaknesses. This will affect your work efficiency for sure. So lest you end up getting the pink slip, learn to take in what people are saying.

You are always complaining:

“My computer is slow, co-workers are not supportive, my boss is very strict, there is no AC in cabs, the food in cafeteria sucks”. Does this sound familiar?

Problems are with everyone, we need to work towards the solutions instead of revolving around the problem. No one likes complaining and that too about co-worker/boss/company/HR. If you face any problem, try to appreciate it from the other person’s perspective. Even then, if you feel problems are grave, then escalate it to the right person instead of being a cry baby. Your attitude of always cribbing/making noise can push you under the ‘firing’ range.

You hate accountability:

I have seen many people who are active enough when it comes to taking credit for some work but who retreat twenty steps backwards, in case of owning up responsibility. At any given point of time, you should be able to hold yourself accountable for the work done by you - good or bad - instead of playing the blame game. This will express your quality of initiation and leadership.

Even if you have any one of the traits mentioned above, I would suggest that you pull up your socks. By addressing the above points you can show to the organization your value of employment. So always welcome responsibility/ challenges with full enthusiasm. Who knows it could be a chance to establish yourself.

No one likes ‘difficult employees’ in their team, organization. Every organization wants an employee who can add value. So watch your approach in office, who knows someone is preparing list to lay off!