Avoiding Bad Employees: Top 6 Tried and Tested Techniques

Bad employees are certainly bad news. For an employer, it can be his worst nightmare. These people, who can ruin the reputation of a company, decrease sales, or produce a negative working environment that can affect everybody else, are the people you would want to stay away from. But weird enough, they seem to have a way of getting into companies.

Fortunately, there are excellent techniques that an employer can do to avoid these kinds of employees. Some of the top ones include:

1. Know bad employees

There are many kinds of bad employees and you have to know them and their characteristics so it would be easier for you to detect them and to stay away from them. Some examples of bad employees are those who…

• …want to take over the company.

These are the kinds of employees who plan to overthrow you someday. They are the ones who seem to be always interested for information, who have the knack for convincing people to think the way they do and who wants to get your throne in the future.

• …gossip and fight a lot.

Employees like these promote a negative working environment that can turn employees against each other.

• …are mentally or emotionally unstable.

These people are the ones who easily lose temper, who suddenly bursts into tears upon a simple negative remark, or who do bizarre things that can cause harm to customers or co-workers.

• …have history of criminal offenses.

People who have been involved in cases like fraud, violence, sexual abuse, stealing or other grave felonies may do a lot of damage to your company’s name and reputation.

• …lack initiative to do work well.

The lazy ones who always makes up excuses for poor performances and the ones who do not have passion for their job but only does it just to get paid.

2. Conduct background searches

An employment background check will reveal valuable information such as personal data, Social Security number, educational background, employment history, driving records, criminal records, drug test records and many others.

This is important so that you will be able to stay away from people who were involved in criminal acts in the past. Aside from that, this will also help you confirm the information stated in the applicant’s resume because as we all know resume falsifications are very rampant nowadays. This way, you will be able to avoid hiring an applicant who is not suitable for the position being applied for.

a) Do your own investigation

For one, you can contact the references in the resume to verify if these are indeed real companies. You just have to be cautious of those “paid references” who were hired by the applicant to pose as a former employer who will say nothing but wonderful things about him.

Also, prior to the interview, you can have an old and trustworthy employee to act as an applicant. In the waiting room, have this employee talk to the applicant and say things like, “My friend who works here told me that the boss here is so easy, you can get away with almost anything,” or “I really do not plan to stay long in this company.” The way the applicant answers to this statements will give you an idea on what kind of employee he would be once he gets in your company.

b) Know the latest federal employment laws

These regulations can be found at the web site of the Department of Labor and will help you a lot in terms of employment management.

c) Avoid using contracts

Contracts will trap you into working with a bad employee longer than you should. If the contract states that the employment duration is for two years, you certainly cannot fire him at the first month.

d) Be a good employer.

This is where the golden rule applies, treat others, as you would want to be treated. You cannot expect goodness and kindness from your employees if you are one big nasty and cruel boss.

Hiring bad employees is not the end of the world, it certainly is not the end of your company’s career. But it can do a lot of irreparable damage so keep in mind these tips so you can avoid bad employees.