A new employee is excited to come to work and see what new challenges await. He meets another employee at the entrance who says, “I can tell by the smile on your face that you haven’t worked here very long.”
The young employee’s smile and enthusiasm fades. The toxic employee has struck.
A toxic employee is anyone who is misaligned with an organization, manager and/or team. Misalignment does not indicate right or wrong for either the employee or the organization. It does not mean that a person or a company is bad. In fact, most people become toxic at some point in their careers. A 2014 Gallup study shows that 17 percent of employees (1 in 6) in the United States are toxic.
Toxic employees aren’t born toxic; they evolve from a healthy, engaged employee. The evolution starts with a perceived injustice. This injustice is often something seemingly minor to management, but significant to the employee. Common injustices include an unresolved conflict with a supervisor or a feeling of a lack of power to make things better at work. If the injustice goes unaddressed, it builds into a story. The story is as simple as, “My boss is incompetent,” or, “My company doesn’t care about its people.” Once the story is created in their mind, the employee looks for evidence to support the story. Everyday events and conversations provide additional fodder to their story and they then begin to share their story with co-workers.
Toxic employees become apparent. They shoot down the ideas of others, hold “after meetings” by the water cooler and demonstrate consistent and negative body language.
Here’s the problem: Toxic employees are not only less productive, but also they have a negative impact on the team. One study found that a single toxic employee on a team of highly engaged employees will reduce the productivity of the entire team by 30-40 percent. The team spends time and energy figuring out how to work around the toxic employee. In fact, engaged employees are 54 percent more likely to leave an organization if there is even one toxic employee on their team. Unaddressed toxicity can have a significantly adverse impact on an organization’s productivity and create “bad turnover” of the best employees.
Fortunately, by understanding toxicity, managers can address it as it occurs and as it begins to evolve in an employee. Here are five tips for reducing toxicity.
1. Train your managers. Many managers are promoted into their roles because they were good at their previous job, but they aren’t trained on how to lead and motivate employees. Many toxic employees are created by managers who inadvertently mistreat an employee or don’t communicate effectively. Good managers not only avoid misunderstandings, but also are able to spot signs of toxicity early.
2. Hire slow. Some employees are put into situations that make them toxic. Hire slowly to ensure you find employees who match the culture you are working to build in your organization and whose skills match the position. Bringing a person on board in a job they can’t perform will create toxicity.
3. On-board well. Studies show that a person’s attitude about their job is largely impacted by their first hour, first day and first week on the job (in that order). Imprint your new employees within their first week by telling them why you hired them and how they will impact the company.
4. Address toxicity immediately. Toxic employees are only damaging to the company when they are allowed to be toxic in the company. Many managers avoid directly addressing toxicity, often because the employee knows too much or is talented in their job. Toxicity is too damaging and should be addressed immediately.
5. Promote the terminally toxic. When a toxic employee refuses to get back in alignment, there is only one thing to do. The toxic employee should be promoted to their next opportunity outside of your organization. Toxicity is damaging to both the organization and the toxic employee. I’ve seen toxic employees take jobs with another company and become productive.
People aren’t hardwired to be toxic and organizations don’t work as well with toxicity. Managers spend too much time focusing on working around toxic employees instead of developing highly engaged employees and strategically leading their organizations. By understanding and addressing toxicity, you can build a healthy culture that helps your organization to new levels of success.
Don Harkey is the co-founder and chief innovation officer at People Centric Consulting Group in Springfield. He can be reached at donharkey@peopleccg.com.
