Bad Vibes: Untrustworthy Employees HR Should Look Out For

Every organisation has employees with interesting traits. There are the hardworking ones who always clock in on time. Then there are the slackers who need some 'encouragement' to finish their work. Finally, there are suspicious ones who encourage other employees to quit and create problems.

Sometimes it is wise to pay attention to your employees; so you can identify the problematic ones. Here are the three types of untrustworthy employees:

1. The ones that whisper.

Almost every organisation has its employee that loves to gossip. Gossiping is usual; most employees gossip about topics unrelated to work such as celebrities and entertainment. But if an employee likes to gossip about your organisation, that's a trouble.

Forbes says that workplace gossip can be divisive and damaging. All it takes is one employee to share a juicy gossip that will lead to many employees leaving their work behind to get updates. What's worse is that a rumour about a specific employee can damage their reputation and affect them psychologically.

Most workplace gossips don't take place in the physical world but through social media such as WhatsApp.

Gossiping is fine as long as it doesn't involve the organisation.

2. The ones that are obsessed.

It's alright for employees to spend their time to chat online or browsing memes as long as they're not doing it during work hours.

Based on a Huffington Post article, social media can influence your creativity. Workers who use their work time to browse celebrities on Instagram or chat on WhatsApp are not on the same productivity level as other workers.

If your organisation allows for mini-breaks, it's alright for employees to use the time for a little bit of social media entertainment. But when it affects your organisation's goals, the employer should step in.

Some companies lend their phones to their employees for work purposes. It is essential for these employees not to misuse company devices. If these phones are used for purposes unrelated to work, the employer has every right to monitor them (with the employee's consent, of course).

3. The ones that snitch.

Every company should have its unique selling point. It is the only aspect that makes them stand out from their competitors, which is why companies need to keep their unique selling points secure and confidential.

An employee could betray its employer's trust by leaking company information to its competitors, who will use the information to beat your company. There are two ways an employee can leak secrets:

An employee could leak trade secrets purposefully because they have a grudge against the company.
An employee could accidentally leak trade secrets. For example, an employee sends a sensitive email to the wrong person.

Organisational leaks have cause big corporations a lot of damage in the past. As an employer, you can avoid the same happening to you by monitoring employees' online activity.

What can employers do?

According to Harvard Business Review, The employer should talk to these problematic employees to try to understand what is causing the behaviour. Then, they should follow up by giving concrete and specific feedback and offer the employee the chance to change. Finally, the employer should find ways to minimise interactions between the untrustworthy employee and the rest of the organisation.

The employer should not bring the situation up with the other employees; they should, however, allow the employees to mention it first and then provide suggestions. It is also a terrible idea to dismiss the worker without justification, as an employer, you should document the employee's behaviour, its impact, and your response first.

Finally, employers should beware not to get so wrapped up in managing the issue that you forget the more important work and responsibilities.

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