As we approach winter, and the days get colder, flu season approaches. Just as a bout of flu can decimate an office so can the Affects of a toxic employee.
Toxic employees are like a contagious sickness that spreads through the workplace. Like a sickness, if not addressed, more and more people are affected. The costs of this behaviour are detrimental to your business.
Each day at work we all have many interactions with others. These interactions have a bigger affect, either positive or negative, on another’s emotions than we may think. Harvard professor Nicholas Christakis and political scientist James Fowler discovered that an emotion does not just spread between the people directly involved in an interaction. The interaction has a ripple effect, where this emotion from people spreads to their friends, to their friends’ friends and so on. So, one person’s toxic behaviour affects many others directly or indirectly.
Toxic employees create a negative and unhealthy working culture among the team. The negative atmosphere generates an imbalance in the team. Instead of focusing on work, a disgruntled employee’s cognitive resources are likely to be spent on analysing their de-energising relationship with the toxic employee and how best to navigate around the issue. As a result, employees experience more conflict among each other, less cohesion and trust, which decreases the ability to solve problems and overall team performance. This level of disruption can be difficult to resolve if the negativity is prolonged or is not addressed.
One of the major ripple effects from toxic employees is employee turnover, where the sense of dissatisfaction in the workplace, not only reduces motivation, but can increase people’s intentions to leave. Top performers are more likely to exit, because they view negativity as a roadblock to their progress. According to a 2015 study by talent management company, Cornerstone on Demand, 54 percent of high performing employees are more likely to resign when they work with a toxic employee.
Toxicity not only affect’s current employees, but also prospective ones. Prospective employees can be deterred from working for an employer if they do their homework on the employer’s working culture (via sites such as Glass Door) before applying or accepting a job offer. Additionally, the hiring and training costs involved when employers inevitably replace the toxic employees is something to be considered. The maintenance of the employees who have been affected by the toxicity is also an additional cost that will take time to restore.
Hence, it is vital that employers attempt to quickly rectify any signs of toxicity in the workplace.
In a world where skilled staff with the right skills, experience and attitude are scarce and time to hire seems to be more drawn out than ever, how do you compete for the people that are going to secure the future for your company? How do you get ahead of the game?
What if you identified the roles in your organisation that were crucial for your success (now and in the future, say in 2 years time)?
What if you had a picture of the competencies, skills and experience you required for each of these roles?
What if you used your business plans to estimate the number of staff you were going to need in these roles to hit your business goals?
Wouldn’t this would give you a staffing target to aim for?
Now, if you then assessed your current team against the criteria for each role and looked at your staff turnover history you would have a gap analysis of the talent you will need to hit your goals.
This is the first part of a solid talent map.
The second part is researching to find where the people you are going to need in the future are now. Are they studying, or working with competitors? Are they available locally? Are people with the skills you need available at all, will you need to train them?
Now you have a staffing strategy to enable you to deliver your business plan.
Why would you want to invest in this?
Many organisations have found that a good talent map has dramatically changed the success of their recruitment and hence their companies results. The talent map allows you to get ahead of the recruitment game. It gives you the information you need to start identifying people now that you may need in the future. It means that when you do have a vacancy to fill you may already have a target list of people to approach. It also means that vacancies are filled quicker with people who have a better chance at success. More sales are made and more customers are kept happy.
Talent mapping is not the domain of big companies. It is the domain of all companies who are planning to be successful.
Work life balance is now a double threat – it needs to be demonstrated to attract staff and delivered to keep them
A new report from best practice insight and technology company CEB has exposed another consequence of poor work life balance, – staff attrition. Since the 2011 edition of CEB’s Global Talent Monitor work life balance has been the number one driver of attraction for employees. The latest edition (recently published) shows it is now also a key driver of attrition, i.e. employees will choose to leave an organisation that does not meet their work life balance needs.
There are an ever-increasing range of factors that are negatively affecting work life balance for employees, especially those in large cities like Sydney. They include commuting time, housing costs and child care costs to name a few. Technology is a double-edged sword, on the one hand it is hugely invasive seeping work into every hour of every day through smart phones etc, but the other edge is that technology can also give us the flexibility to work productively from home. I know people who used to be tied to their desks until late at night who now go home, have dinner, put their kids to bed and then log on and get their work done.
So, who is responsible for an employee’s work life balance? What role does the employer play in the equation? Well an old-fashioned employer might be recalcitrant, look to the past and not be willing to change. But in a world where skills are scarce that is not a sustainable position.
I think the role of the employer is to create an environment that enables employees to be the best they can be. That might mean providing training and tools to enable them to do their job effectively. It might also mean providing the infrastructure to allow them to work effectively away from ‘their desk’ when it is applicable.
But the individual has a responsibility as well. They must work at being effective, to use their time productively, to make smart decisions about their priorities, so that they meet their obligations to work, family and friends.
The fact is that competition in business has never been fiercer and it is unlikely to ease up. To be able to compete businesses need engaged productive employees. To be engaged and productive employees need to be able to deliver on the demands of family and community as well as those from work.
It isn’t simple and we won’t get it right all the time.
