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How to Handle Chronic Complainers | Dodging Landmines

Every workplace has one: a chronic complainer who finds fault with everything. David Goldman, employment and labor attorney, discusses how to manage these negative people and when to get Human Resources involved.

Speaker: Sumi Das

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Tags: Landmine, Recruitment & Selection, Human Resources, Workforce Management, Dodging Landmines - Employees Who Complain

 
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    SM3GDC

    10/20/09 | Report as spam

    RE: How to Handle Chronic Complainers | Dodging Landmines

    I think the Best Practices series is fabulous. We are using wellness in the workplace to eliminate drama and boost morale. Don Phin, a very good friend and author of Victims, Villains and Heroes has written the very best book available on this topic. I would also recommend reading Leadership and Self Deception. B. Scott Minor ? Risk Manager ? www.healthtrackwellness.com/trustgdc

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How to Handle Chronic Complainers | Dodging Landmines

Every workplace has one: a chronic complainer who finds fault with everything. David Goldman, employment and labor attorney, discusses how to manage these negative people and when to get Human Resources involved.

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>> When employees complain, notice how I said, "When" as opposed to "if," when should I get human resources involved and when should I try to handle the situation myself?

>> Well, you're right. Employees complain about all types of things, and not every one of them is an HR moment. I try and put things into one of two buckets. First bucket: Is there some potential unlawfullness about the complaint? A serious matter of sex or racial harassment? Theft. Safety concern. Or is it an employee that, two employees that just don't like each other, an employee doesn't like their work, they disagree with you. Bucket A is that HR moment. Bucket B, still gotta solve it, but you've got a lot more discretion.

>> Suppose the complaint is an HR moment, and I do need to get them involved. Is that sending the wrong signal to my employees, that I can't handle the situation myself?

>> You know, it really shouldn't be. I'm an employment attorney. I litigate these things. But I've got employees myself and when these issues arise, I call HR. Only they know how we've handled them in the past. They may know some other information that I really was unaware of.

>> How can I try to reduce the amount of complaining from my employees? Especially in this economy, when everyone is being asked to do more, work longer hours, with less.

>> Well, I think that, um, whether it's a complaint or just poor performance, a lot of it stems from not setting expectations right up front. So do that. With your chronic complainer, there's a temptation just to kind of move the person off. I find that that only increases the level of complaining. Take it seriously. Look into it. If you have to tell the person, "No," tell them no, but now you've done it after you've taken it seriously. I find most chronic complainers will tire themselves out that way.

>> In summary.

>> You've got to do your high level review. What type of problem do I have? And keep your own personal biases about the person out of the equation. If you've got that chronic complainer, it is easy to just think, "You know, they're just complaining again." Don't prejudge.

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==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====