Managing a Difficult Employee

Work out what the problem actually is

"Difficult" covers three different problems that need three different responses, and treating them as one is why so many of these conversations go nowhere.

Write down exactly what happened, three or four times, with dates. If you can't fill a short list with specifics, you have an impression rather than a problem — and an impression is not something anyone can be asked to change.

Rule your own business out first

This step is unwelcome and it's the one that saves the most good people. A meaningful share of "difficult employee" situations in trade businesses are ordinary people responding to a badly run environment. Before the conversation, check honestly:

• Did they ever get told what good looks like? Vague expectations are the most common cause of underperformance that isn't underperformance.
• Were they trained, or shown once in a hurry? Being expected to know your way of doing something they've never been taught is a setup.
• Are you sending them to jobs with no scope and no access details, then annoyed when it goes badly?
• Is the gear they're given actually up to the work?
• Has anything else changed? Rosters cut, pay that's drifted, a promise that quietly died, or a personal situation you know nothing about.
• Is it one person or three? If several people have gone the same way, the problem is upstream of any of them.

None of that excuses genuine conduct problems. But going into a conversation having checked it means you can be direct without being unfair — and if you find one of these, fixing it is faster and cheaper than replacing someone.

The first conversation

Most of these situations resolve here, if it's done early and properly. Have it as soon as you've got your facts, not at the next review, and not at the Christmas party.

1. Give a little warning, privately. "Can we have ten minutes at the end of today?" No ambush, no audience, and never in front of the crew or a client.
2. Open with the specifics. Two or three examples, with dates and what happened. Behaviour and effect, not character: "the Henderson job needed a return visit on the 14th", not "you don't care about your work".
3. Then stop talking. Ask what's going on and let the silence sit. This is where you find out about the injury, the family situation, the second job, or the fact that nobody ever showed them the right method.
4. Say plainly what needs to change. One or two things, specific and observable. "On site by 7" is a standard. "Better attitude" is not.
5. Ask what support they need. Sometimes the answer is training, sometimes it's a different pairing, sometimes it's time off. It also tests whether they're willing.
6. Agree a check-in date and write it down. A short dated note — what was discussed, what was agreed, when you'll review it — emailed to them so you both have the same version.

When nothing changes

If the behaviour continues after a fair conversation and a fair chance, you're moving from a management conversation into a process that is regulated — and this is the point where a trade business owner should stop improvising.

Formal warnings, performance management and ending someone's employment are governed by workplace law. Unfair dismissal and general protections claims are real and are decided on whether you had a valid reason, whether the person was told about it, and whether they had a genuine chance to respond and to have someone with them. There are also specific rules that apply to smaller businesses, and rules about notice and final entitlements. Getting the outcome right but the process wrong is expensive.

• Get advice before you act — the Fair Work Ombudsman publishes guidance on managing underperformance and ending employment, and an employment adviser or lawyer is worth an hour's fee here.
• Keep the reason valid and the evidence real. Specific, dated, and about the work.
• Tell them clearly what's at stake. People can't respond to consequences they weren't told about.
• Give them a genuine chance to respond, and let them bring someone if they want to.
• Be consistent. If two people do the same thing and only one gets pulled up, that difference will be the thing anyone reviewing it focuses on.

What to write down, and when

Records feel like corporate overkill right up until the day you need them, at which point memory is worth nothing. Keep them as you go:

• Dated notes of every conversation, including the informal ones. Three lines is enough: date, what was raised, what was agreed.
• The evidence itself — the callback, the incident report, the client complaint, the job record showing what happened when.
• Anything you sent them in writing, and their reply.
• Support you offered, and whether it was taken up. This matters as much as the failures.
• Incidents on their own form. Our guide on writing an incident report covers the safety side properly.

Frequently asked questions