You go to work daily for five days in a row, every week of the year. You spend an inordinate amount of time with your employees so you get to know them fairly well. Their everyday quirks and idiosyncrasies shine through eventually and you’ll either learn to love them, tolerate them or hate them. Of course, you want to be able to love or at least tolerate your employees and so it’d be smart to be aware of who you hire in the first place.
I don’t think I am alone in my sentiment when I say, there are just some people you don’t want working for you.
The best plan is to spot the bad apples early on. In the interview process you should ascertain whether or not they’re going to cause a problem for you and your business.
Here are three types of employees you definitely don’t want or need in your business.
1
The fragile, special one
This is the employee that believes they deserve a bit of extra special treatment. They might even think that their reasoning for this treatment is valid.
This is the employee who will happily tell everyone about their personal problems, their horrid ex-spouse, what their psychologist thinks about their anxiety disorder and so on, and these are the reasons why they believe they deserve special treatment.
This means, according to them, they may arrive at work later than everyone else and leave early or take a two-hour lunch. They’re shocked when anyone has anything to say about their behaviour and often, they’re really manipulative.
They’ll have worked the boss around their little finger ensuring they get away with anything and everything.
When interviewing a new employee, make sure to ask them how they feel about rules. Ask them about their thoughts on corporate structure and culture. Also, you might ask them about teamwork and how they’d handle a colleague who is passing the buck or under-delivering. Their answers are likely to give you clues to their regular behaviour which will be different to their interview persona.
2
The “that’s not my job” one
Everyone gets a job description with a list of their responsibilities and tasks that they must complete to perform in their position. However, everyone knows that every now and then some other tasks may pop up and everyone is expected to chip in and assist in getting the job done or project finished or deadline met. But there are some employees who will only ever do what their contract outlines.
They are unwavering in their resolve to do no more than is required and what has been put in writing by their seniors. Unfortunately, this means that as an employee they’re not reliable, they’re not going to get their hands dirty and certainly have no interest in the other departments in your company.
This is, of course, a problem for you as the manager or business owner as well as a concern for this employee’s teammates. While you don’t need them to take on other people’s work you’re going to need them to step up when the going gets tough.
To try and ascertain whether or not your interviewee has this type of nature you need to enquire about their previous positions and whether or not they dabbled in tasks outside of their designation. Also, you should find out if there are other departments that they’d be interested in. For instance, imagine employing a copywriter who has a knack for SEO or digital strategy. They’d be very valuable to you, whereas a copywriter who is a purist and will only ever write words for you is not as attractive
3
The one who doesn’t understand that work is work
This employee is probably a social butterfly. They’re going to appear very positive and willing in the interview and you’ll probably enjoy that. However, be wary. Some extremely social people don’t understand that they come to work to actually perform in their jobs and not just simply make friends and hang out.
Now, work friendships are bound to blossom among team members and even between employees and their seniors. However, boundaries need to be in place and those who share too much are not leaving their personal lives at the front door. Therefore, whatever happens to them will become everyone’s business and this can create a terrible distraction to their colleagues.
If your interviewee gives too much away about their personal life in their interview then you should see this as a red flag. Ask them about how they handle stress or to give you an example of how they’ve managed stress previously.