How can you effectively deal with difficult people and ensure that you are getting the best out of every employee and in turn increase productivity? Here are my top tips:

• Don’t Delay: as with almost every HR issue ignoring or procrastinating on a situation does not work. Where difficult people are concerned it can actually get worse with time. Deal with the situation immediately to ensure the difficult behaviour does not escalate
•  Be objective: do not let personal opinion or emotion cloud your judgement
• Investigate: does a pattern exist? Are there any trigger factors that cause the individual behave badly? There may be underlying reasons for the behaviour and identifying them can be the key to resolving the situation
• Speak to the ‘difficult person’ informally: this will also help diffuse the situation quickly. It is easy to look at the bad but give the employee the benefit of the doubt and ask them what the issues are from their point of view as well as pointing out tactfully that there is a problem
• Conduct regular follow up: this ensures that the problem does not recur
• Focus on the actionable: look at decisive steps that you can take to correct the situation e.g. re-distribution of work, addressing the team dynamic etc.

Don’t forget our forthcoming Dealing with Difficult People and Conversations Workshop.

If you have ever been in a difficult situation or feel you would like to be well prepared should a situation arise in the future then you cannot afford to miss this workshop. We will outline the dangers of ignoring the issue, the importance of acting promptly and will give you five key tips to help you prepare for difficult conversations. In addition, we invite you to bring your ‘difficult conversations’ with you for us all to discuss in our open forum.

This event is taking place on 13^th September at the Hennerton Golf Club. For more information and to book your place please contact me at sueferguson@optionshr.com

We have looked a lot at capability issues over the last few weeks.  As mentioned previously capability refers to an employee’s skills, ability, aptitude and knowledge in relation to the job that he or she is employed to do.  The key feature of lack of capability is that it is not the employee’s fault and is generally outside the employee’s control.  With this in mind in this week’s blog we are looking at stress as a cause of lack of capability in the workplace.

The HSC define stress as an adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them.  Whilst there is no specific legislation as to how to handle stress in the workplace, as an employer you have a duty of care to take reasonable measures to manage stress under the Health and Safety at Work Act.  This is not only for the benefit of your employees but also for the benefit and long term success of your business.

Stress has a significant impact on your bottom line! It is estimated that on average in the UK 10.8 million working days are lost each year as a result of stress, and the cost of sickness absence resulting from work-related mental health problems, of which stress is undoubtedly the primary cause, costs on average £120 per day.

Whilst it is impossible to eliminate all pressures from the workplace you must do everything in your power to reduce the risk of harm and be aware of the early warning signs before it is too late.  These can include past history of stress, increases in absence, physical manifestation such as rashes, changes to behaviour e.g. irritability and complaints from peers.

When you suspect an employee is suffering from the early signs of stress act immediately.  Consider the amount and type of work the employee undertakes and what changes can be made; provide extra supervision and support and offer counselling.  Getting it wrong or not dealing with this issue effectively can result in damaging, in terms of cost and reputation, negligence and personal injury claims.