Is a Poisonous Attitude a Reason to Fire an Employee?

In my opinion, it’s negative behaviors and the resulting consiquences that may be documented, and lead to termination. Attitude is hard to prove, but actions and results or lack there of, are safer legal ground on which to tread.

I have this problem but it is with one of the supervisor who is an allie with the main boss who is my direct boss. what letter can I write? She seems to work better with letters than face to face. Face to face she sits there listening but then says “is there anything else? I’m not going to get inbetween. The meeting with her is over. Help 111

I think this particular lady shouldn’t be fired instead all the fellow employees who works with her should also behave in the same manner as she behaves with them, this will make her feel how bad it is when she behaves like this with her fellow employees. This might change her attitude.

A person’s “job preformance” is a collective of both actual work quality and quality of attitude (team building, cooperation, etc.) This person might be technically skilled, but the overall package is unsatifactory and will cause more damage than her skills offer on the good side. If the attitude described causes good employees to become less effective, then she is harming the environment and should be disciplined or let go…

If she is an at will employee, she is gone. The attitude issue is more important than anything if you want a culture that invites real talent and productivity.

I agree with John and Dave. A person’s job preformance is a collective of both actual work quality and quality of attitude. She may be skilled, but her attitude could case a problem. She has already been demoted and still continues to case problems. As a manager, if what is reported is true, she would have been terminated when she crossed the line with the security cameras. A person likes this could damage the work environment.

Suggest you approach her and have a candid chat with her about how she is seen within the company by her superiors, peers and subordinates ( when she had them!). Tell her straight- her strengths are that she can do a great job, her weaknesses are that her negative attitude is viewed as poisonous and destructive and if she does not change she will be dismissed and some one else will be trained up to do “her” good job. Be frank – but fair! There is no point in criticizing her behind her back-she needs to know. You never know, she may change.

We have one just like this. She is mentally ill. No amount of talking to, reasoning with, nor talking about this person will be effective. Just document all you can and get her fired.

This person is obviously not a team player. Rather, she has some serious pychological issues that cause her to perpetuate her anger. If you have an employee assistance program or company psychologist, I strongly suggest you get this woman some help through those channels. Her participation in a program should be a condidtion of her continued employment with your company.

A negative attitude can more than offset competency and and experience. Performance is a total package: job competence and workplace attitude.

If she is competent, then give her the chance to adjust her attitude. If she doesn’t, terminate her.

She should be let go after the proper HR chain completed (warnings, and official write-up with specific incidents). She is making it a hostile work environment for others.

Fire her quickly. She will poison others or they will leave because of her.

If this has been discussed with her and it is part of her file, terminate. If not, evaluate & document – good and bad, accentuating the bad. At which time you offer her anger management consultation. If there is no marked improvement over a probationary period, terminate. You have done your due diligence as an employer and your team’s faith in your system is restored. If there is improvement everybody wins.

Lisa and Dave are correct. If your company has an at “at will” clause in the company policy, then you can terminate her based on her attitude. However, this woman sounds like the kind who will take the company to court just to tie them up in legal haggling. It would be better for the company to document the areas where this woman is clearly violating policy and/or procedure.Not only dociment but have conversations with her to discuss the violations and have her sign each write-up so she cannot say that she did not know she was doing something wrong. Have a witness in the room ( a member of management) with you and have them sign the document also. Give her a 90 day improve or remove. Then remove!

You have to be very careful with this. Honesty is the best. Why is this person so upset? What can she do to change it? She has to have direct feedback with others documented, so she can improve with concrete information. ex. deadlines, follow ups If she chooses to ignore this and not change fire here.

First, I wonder if anyone she works with has ever tried to find out why she is so negative. Maybe it’s frustration! Maybe THEY are the ones who are the source of her frustration.
On the other hand, I work with someone who is so bitter and angry all the time, he is miserable to be around! Does a lot of the same things this woman does, keeps track of everyone’s in and out time, breaks, etc… I have talked to our Manager about him. I have told him this, “Any destructive behavior not corrected by an employer, is, by default, condoned by the employer.” I don’t necessarily feel like either she or he should be fired, per se, but someone needs to correct it!

Get rid of her! It’s not enough any more to just have an employee who shows up to work on time! An employee who is scarring the rest of your team is scarring your business and it’s impression toward customers! She’s got to go! I’ve fired more people then I’ve hired!

I am one of those People unfortunate enough to have encountered someone so malicious and hostile to work with. Approximately four months ago I started work in a company which was destined to be a short term contract thriugh an agency. Within two weeks both the Directors requested that I consider a long term contract as they had never worked with someone as myself and felt that I had set a very high standard within that short space of time. Having considered for a month, I signed a contract.My woes started when another employee appr 60yrs of age started interfering in my work. She found everything wrong with what I was doing. Going from office to office saying just how incompetent I was. She patrolled the passage in front of my office and would then sneak into the Directors office and start whispering.This caused me much embarressment especially when she would say things aloud in the passage making sure that everyone heard that she was correcting me in a belittling manner. As PA to the Directors there were particular tasks on my Job description which she forcefully took over to have access to my Directors.When the IT Specialist came in as he did on a weekly basis she instructed him to remove a package from my computer. She subtley brought her daughter to work at the office and told me that the information removed was needed by her daughter. This was done without consultation.The job I am now doing is a far more inferior position in regards to my qualifications and Experience. However, due to a past illness which took me a long time to recover, I gragually entered the job market to re-establish myself.This lady has always worked in finance. She projects herself as someone so competent in every field and can pass as very convincing. She is malicious and dangerous. When I started my job within two days I got to hear gossip of my Directors and other staff members. I dismissed it telling her that I prefer to form my own opinions on other people rather than being influenced. It seems that I rubbed her up the wrong way because since then she has done nothing more than discredit me on what she perceives of me.I have never entertained her gossip neither have I interacted with her. I can only describe someone of that calibre as “Evil” While I try to maintain my dignity and uphold the values of good work ethics, the situation is emotionlly and physically draining me. Is this harrassment? The company does not have an HR component and just today my Director called me in and asked if I would mind setting up an HR department based on my qualifications and experience rather than them outsourcing the work. I need some advice please!

This employee can be seen as a problem but also the employer can be the problem as well. This person is obviously qualifed to be playing a larger role when considering the talent side of the equation. We as managers MUST utilize all aspects of a person’s abilities, talents and skills WHILE presenting the person in a light with acceptance and respect. Some people like DIVAS or high demand actors/actresses need some pertainent and wise handling. Our modern management techniques do not include the little positives that can be used to encourage and improve attitude development. With this present shortage of talent in the economy we MUST find ways to retain and realign staff members. This is the same as aligning the team to protect a superstar like in Hockey, Football or Soccer. This person requires a challenge or else they will over-rev themselves in a negative spiral of emothions. In the old days this person would go out for a drink and some nocturnal adventure in order to revitalize themselves. For modern times we must seek special projects or some areas of our work that will provide unique opportunities for recognition.

Most people perform at their best when they are recognized – a wise manager will develop and enlist a problem employee into a strong example of excellence and strength. It is only weak managers that seek to confront problems and dismiss peop[le that they do not undserstand.

It is unfortunate that the management has condoned the woman’s behaviour for long. She will demoralise and affect other employees’ performance. If she wins one or two other more employees to behave like her, that could mean real danger to the organization. The supervisor ought to deal with her immediately following the the laid down procedures.

I think that when a person is posionous to the environment, everyone suffers and steps must be taken to dismiss the employee. Helene, I would write a letter to the Director not only sharing your feelings but also citing examples about this womans behavior(one’s that can be verified). I would write this letter BEFORE you accept the challenge to build the HR department so you have the complaint on file. Once in the HR role, you may have an easier time recording behaviors and bringing them to light. If none of the above helps, then you have to make the decision to work or not work in a hostile environment and move on.

What if the person with the horrible negative attitude is the HR Department heads. There are two in my company. One is an older woman who is getting close to retirement. The other is not quite as old but, extremely negative and bitter. She is surely going to replace the HR Manager. What do you do in the situation where you don’t have an employee advocate to go to?

We were recently forced to fire our office manager who had been with us for over 13 years. Over the past year or so she started to abuse and bully a co-worker, a loyal and conscientious soul. Refused to talk or share information with her, at times intentionally misinform her, and when we asked her to discontinue her conduct, she still found ways to taunt her victim. Took the liberty and instructed her to “not stay after 5:00, since there was no money”. We begged her to stop and told her it was affecting our business,since we needed someone to stay another hour, but she wouldn’t listen. By now she had created a toxic environment and blamed just about every error and problem on her abused victim, who by now was close to a nervous breakdown. When two clients alerted us of her disrespectful and unkind treatment of her colleage in their very presence – we let her go.

You have to remember the ADA. If this person really does have a “mental health” issue you may want to consult with a legal expert. If fired, she could have grounds for discrimination suit.

As harse as it sounds, you aren’t at work to make “friends.” The only thing your employer owes you is a pay check. If this woman isn’t doing her job, or allowing others to do theirs, then she should be terminated.

I had to deal with the same situation. Good employee, terrible attitude. During her review, I told her that it was obvious to me and to her coworkers that she was clearly unhappy working here and I wanted her to be happy. Her negative attitude was a “cancer” in the office. Since she seemed so unhappy, I offered to keep her employed, but over the next 90 days I would help her find a new job with another company better suited to her while she continues to work here. I told her I would start interviewing for her position immediately. I think the seriousness and the “scare” of being asked to leave made her realize that she needed to change…and change fast. Her coworkers have noticed a huge improvement. We are past the 90 days. She still works here.

Attitude reflects leadership.
Typical postings here of typical middle management. Always the employee’s attitude being the problem right? Can’t fix THEM so I’ll fire them.

Thanks, Athena, for asking the right question. The employee could have terrible personal issues (loss of spouse or parent, loss of home, etc.) that can’t be just “changed” or “improved”. Getting this person back up to par takes time and compassion. Too bad, employers, but if you’re doing the right thing, this is what you should want. My daughter lost her job because her boss expected her to leave her grief at the door during the first year after her dad died. SInce the first two years make you unable to think, focus, make decisions, remember or understand, she needed help- not to also suffer the loss of her job, too. Unless the boss takes the time to find out how the employee’s personal and emotional needs can be met within the framework of the job, this will happen. And what is that boss going to expect THEIR boss to do when the same thing happens to them? (And it WILL happen to everyone eventually!)

i have this kind of problem. she is a very good staff in terms of knowledge yet she is being hated by all by her attitude. what i did is conducted a seminar to all staff about customer and co-employee relation and ended up saying “YOU MAYBE BE SKILLFUL BUT WITHOUT GOOD RELATION WITH OTHER’S, YOU ARE STILL A WASTE. WITHOUT PIN POINTING HER SHE REALIZE IT and get back to the real track. i have strike two goals at one throw. i avoided the headache of terminating staff and correct what is wrong…sometime they just dont know the faults, you just have to teach them in a nice and professional way..

behavior “firing” is a sticky place to go. You can assess a person on skills and based on omparison of fellow co-workers doign teh same job, BUT to fire someone on attitude alone? An HR issue. Most companies need to “talk” with that person several times, then give written warnings. After that MAYBE you can fire them.

Re-iterating the only point that makes sense here. I’ve worked in places that hire & fire 5 people a week. The attitude is “people are replaceable” and machines can do better. Thanks for posting Jonny.

Jonny says:
Attitude reflects leadership.
Typical postings here of typical middle management. Always the employee’s attitude being the problem right? Can’t fix THEM so I’ll fire them.

Wow.. I read your question and sat there saying “check,” “check,” to all the qualities you listed… as qualities of my co-worker. Except, my co-worker isn’t talented, in fact she messes a lot of things up. I’m pretty sure she can barely read. I know for a fact she didn’t graduate high school or get a GED. I was browsing for information to discuss with my HR Manager when I meet with him. This will be personally my second time taking issues with my co-worker to HR. NOTHING seems to help. I’ve tried directly talking to her, talking to my boss, talking to my boss’ boss. It’s like talking to a nodding wall. Still immoble when you walk away! Thanks for letting me know I’m not alone.. and neither are you!

I would first see what is at the heart of her behaviour. Maybe she feels that those on her team are just doing the minimum to stay employed but not really contributing or working as hard as she is. Firing is so touchy because while you are rid of the immediate problem, paying the unemployment of people whom you did not fire on grounds of refusal to work can be expensive over time.

I think what a lot of people here are missing are the words “she used to have a leadership position but no longer does”. It is obvious the “management” has done quite a bit to keep from firing her. The reader also went on to say “She has been spoken to about her constant gossip on the floor and negative attitude.” It seems that the employee is the one unwilling to change. How? She’s been demoted to a lesser position – not fired, but demoted. If that wasn’t a wake-up call, then the subsequent “talks” about her gossiping and negative attitude should have been.

At what point does managment stop being understanding? When she comes in with a hostile attitude and a weapon? Workplace violence is not just for men. The comments from the readers about “middle management just wanting to fire her” is so off the mark. If they really wanted to fire her, do you think they would have demoted her? NOT! Most companies would have done just that, let her go and find someone else to take her position.

How far into an employees personal life is management supposed to go? They’ve demoted her, counseled her and now if they feel there’s no recourse, then yes, let her go.

Think of it in terms like this…You open a bank account. You’ve managed that account pretty well but you get an overdraft. The bank says “Ok, this is a pretty good customer so we’ll pay this overdraft as a courtesy and waive the fee.” However, you have another one. They pay that one but charge you. You continue to overdraw your account. They stop paying your overdrafts, return your checks and charge you. Eventually, they decide they can no longer take the risk from you as a customer and close your account after several warnings about your excessive overdrafts.

No decent HR person wants to fire anyone. They will try to do everything they can to help the employee, but if she hasn’t gotten better after a demotion and counselling, then I say term her.