Do you have an employee who’s negative attitude is affecting the rest of your team, but you’re not quite sure how to deal with them? Well, don’t fret! Peninsula Business Services are on hand to offer their advice should you find yourself in this predicament.
Attitudes can affect even the most successful of working environments in either a positive or negative light depending on whether the attitude is deemed acceptable or unacceptable.
How a negative attitude can affect your business
As a business which is primarily customer-based, an employee with a negative attitude may not just have an adverse effect on other employees, but it could also affect your customers too. This could ultimately result in your entire business being affected, potentially leading to problems, such as lack of repeat custom and even profit.
How a negative attitude can affect your workforce
When a poor attitude is displayed by one of your employees, you could run into the issue where the performance of the remainder of your workforce decreases too due to the spreading of the attitude. This is particularly common when certain employees begin to show elements of discontent which may then spread to the whole workforce.
Act instantly
If you notice an employee has a negative attitude, you should approach them about it straight away. By acting on the situation as soon as possible, you’re able to stop the spreading of discontent throughout the remainder of your workforce.
Communication is key
Many issues around staff morale arise from a lack of communication. Clear and understandable communication is an important factor to ensure any problems are resolved – after all you don’t know how to help your employee unless you ask them what it is that’s bothering them.
Taking an interest in your employees is key as their discontent may begin with feeling unnoticed by the company. By noticing your employees, this could boost their morale as they will start to feel that they are important to you and your team.
In situations where they won’t communicate their issues, it might be effective to emphasise their importance to the company so that they understand the impact their attitude has.
Whilst trying to overcome the issue with your employee, you should also highlight that if their attitude continues to affect their productivity, and that of others, then stricter action, such as a disciplinary procedure, could be instigated. By introducing this as part of your regime, you may also encourage your other employees to communicate their issues whenever they have them too.
Should you have any doubts at all about your situation and your next steps, we always recommend that you seek the advice and support of legal and employment law specialists.
If you want learn more tips on how to effectively manage your team and keep up to date with current employment law issues, why not head on over to our Resource Library and check out some of our other articles.