Professional Behavior

LFernandes

Hi Everyone,

Does anyone have any guidelines that they would be willing to share on Professional Behavior in the workplace. I know that it almost sounds silly to ask but I've been trying to put together a list of do's and don'ts and I'm just not happy with what I've put together so far.

Here's the reason:

I have an employee with an attitude problem who also has a more than a tendency towards unprofessional behavior. I have received complaints of dirty looks, bad mouthing other employees, sarcasm, nasty remarks that were "only in jest", yelling, slamming windows, doors, phones, hanging up on people, etc. But when I confronted them on it during a recent investigation, the employee denied everything and stated that they "would never do anything like that" and resorts to it's everyone else not them.

I want to put together an acknowledgement and have the EE sign it stating that they are aware of what the company considers unprofessional. I know that EE's never change but maybe seeing it in writing might have more of an affect then talking to them has.

Your input is always greatly appreciated. And I apologize if I seem to be rambling but I've had a long week dealing with this employee.

LFernandes

Whirlwind

When supervisors ask me how to deal with an ee’s attitude problem, I tell them an attitude is a mind state that you infer from the ee’s behavior. Forget the attitude and deal with the behavior. I would also forget the guidelines for professional conduct; this person sounds way beyond that and probably wouldn’t follow them if they were printed on the back of his hand.

When you don’t observe his behavior directly (as it sounds like you haven’t), you’re also dealing with an “it’s my word against theirs, and I say I didn’t do it” problem. Don’t let that deter you from progressive disciplinary action. I see many supervisors and HR folks too who think we have to meet a standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt” before we can take action to address ee misconduct. As I tell them, this ain’t court. My approach would be to start with what I call a Record of Conference. I would meet with the guy, tell him that’s it come to my attention that he’s doing thus and so, and ask for his explanation or response. He will inevitably deny it, and when he does, say something like, “Well, there’s obviously some room for interpretation of anyone’s behavior, but I’m hearing these concerns from enough sources to believe that your conduct is coming off as inappropriate.” I would add things like, “You might not feel like you’re slamming the door or raising your voice, but people are hearing it that way, so I’m simply telling you to speak more quietly and shut doors softly.” Then I would end with, “I’m going to write a summary of this meeting reflecting both my concerns and your responses, then I’ll ask you to sign that you’ve received a copy of it. I hope this will take care of the issues, but if there are further concerns of this nature, it may lead to more formal disciplinary action.” This has been an effective practice in my organization.

Good luck!

hrbanker

Good advice. This approach works well in dealing with attitude or behavior problems.