Dealing With Employee Insubordination

By Kevin Muir

Are you a timid business owner or Human Resource person? Do you have trouble dealing with employee insubordination? We believe the best way to handle this problem is to react immediately. Waiting can make matters worse. When other employees see a coworker getting away with insubordinate behavior, it encourages them to act the same way.

But you must confront the insubordinate worker using the policies or procedures in place. A systematic, unbiased approach is necessary. If you just blindly react to the employee in question, it can create chaos in the workplace. Not only is this uncomfortable, but you lose the opportunity to bring the employee back into the fold. Also you risk your reputation with the other workers and possibly with your management. This will affect your ability to manage all employees in the long-term.

That said, effectively dealing with this problem in a professional manner is stressful for most managers. Let me explain.

Employee insubordination clearly tells you that your worker does not respect you. This disrespect can occur in many different forms. For example, an employee may talk back to you during inappropriate times. Also, he or she may not listen to your directions or regularly "forget" what you told them to do. Even worse, this worker may ignore your previous attempts at discipline.

Employee Insubordination Tools

So you must deal with the problem employee immediately and professionally. How do you go about doing this?

First review your current policies and procedures. If you are a small business owner and do not have such policies, now is the time to create them. Not only is it important to have a set of workplace rules, but every employee should be familiar with them. These rules can take the form of a handbook or just a simple posting or bulletin.

Part of these rules should be to meet with the problem employee. Why is this important? Sometimes employees have troubles related to their life outside their work environment. Everyone has a story. If you take the time to sit the employee down, and draw them into a conversation that is not accusatory or confrontational, then they may explain what is going on with them outside work. If this is the case, nine times out of ten the employee will return to good behavior.

However if this tactic fails, then you must make full use of your policies and reprimand the employee. Your job, as business manager or owner, is to enforce the workplace rules.

Start down the path towards termination. Often it is difficult to fire an employee over a single incident of insubordination. You may have to meet regularly with this individual, set goals and resolve problems on an ongoing basis. Once the employee realizes you are checking the situation, their behavior may improve. If not, you are already down the path of ending their employment.

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