Equal Opportunity Offender

Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons

Is there someone at work that no one can stand? It could be the manager that thinks he knows better than anyone else and refuses to listen. Maybe it’s the insecure employee that spends their time undermining others just so they can make themselves look good to their superiors. It could even be the miserable person with the bad attitude that creates problems for coworkers. These are the people that destroy businesses. They create hostile works environments, cause good people to leave, and impact the quality of life of everyone around them. There’s a word for these people but for the purpose of this blog, I’ll call them equal opportunity offenders.

Do you have any of these people working for you? If you own or manage a business with employees, it is incumbent upon you to ensure that your people are happy. That means you are responsible for enforcing the “no-asshole rule.” The best way to fulfill your responsibility is to not hire them in the first place. Make sure your interview process is thorough. Have candidates interview with multiple people. Allow key subordinates the opportunity to sit down with the candidates that will be managing them before they are hired. If your candidate has a history of jumping from job to job, that is a red flag. If they blame others for their lack of tenure, that’s another red flag. If possible, have discussions with people that your candidate has worked with before. If you don’t know of any, LinkedIn is a good place to start.

How can you find out if you have equal opportunity offenders in your ranks? You must communicate with people at all levels in your business. Make it known that it is your goal to ensure that everyone has the best possible work environment. Institute an open-door policy that permits people at all levels to approach you without the protocol of having to clear anything through a direct supervisor. Circulate an anonymous survey that allows people to provide candid feedback on their co-workers and superiors. If people leave, be sure you conduct exit interviews. This may be the only opportunity to get completely candid feedback.

Once you determine that a person working for you is an equal opportunity offender, you have to exert your influence by making it known that the behavior is unacceptable. Monitor the people around them to see if things improve over time. If things do not improve, find a replacement and manage them out.

What if you are working for an equal opportunity offender? If you are in a corporate environment, keep detailed notes on a timeline of issues that come up. If others are in the same predicament and you have their trust, convince them to do the same. Find an ally that is senior to the equal opportunity offender on the corporate ladder and solicit their help. If you have a code of conduct or employee handbook, see if you can identify any violations. If all else fails, do everything in your power to end the interaction with this person—try to transfer to another department or find an opportunity at another firm and move on.

Life is short. Most of us spend the majority of our waking hours at work. Find people that you enjoy working with and use your influence to institute a “no asshole rule.” Your work life will be much better as a result.