How to manage difficult employees
There are only three certain things in life: death, taxes, and encountering difficult people. However, we often don’t merely encounter difficult people; we have to find a way to manage them.
We’re all difficult people, though, aren’t we? We all come packaged with our own odd characteristics. We all want to be validated, recognised, loved, included, promoted, praised; we all want to have a good moan sometimes.
In this post-Brexit, not-quite-through-Covid world, the workforce is restless. If you don’t make your flock feel valued on a regular basis, the best sheep will be gone by the time you can say baa humbug. One thing is for certain, though: people change jobs more frequently in this new digital economy, and we can expect this process to be magnified in the current environment. In fact, according to figures compiled by the London School of Business and Finance, 47% of UK workers actively want to change careers. There is also significantly less loyalty to brands or individuals in this environment, so the more that we can retain our existing talent pool, the easier it will be to grow our businesses.
There are staff shortages everywhere, and the war for talent is raging. Wage inflation is rife; in the businesses I’ve been involved with, salaries have risen by over 20% in many sectors. One US law firm, for example, is paying £140,000 starting salaries for juniors. Head-hunters are circling like vultures – I know this for certain, because I am one – and there’s no longer any stigma attached to regular job-hopping.
This is an excerpt from Gary’s book, Eat the Pudding Frist, published on Business Age.
