Employers should be proactive about managing difficult people in the workplace instead of “batting cleanup” and trying to fix a problem after it has escalated, says Barbara Poole, founder and CEO, of Employaid.

Address Growing Problem
“A difficult person to you and to me might be two different people,” she says, adding that a difficult person is generally considered to be someone who is “interfering with employee productivity on an individual basis or a group basis.”

The economy has exacerbated the problem of dealing with difficult people at work “simply because people are under so many stressors,” Poole says. “People are being stretched beyond belief in terms of job responsibilities.”

In fact, dealing with difficult people is one of the top areas searched by visitors to Employaid.com, an online community for corporate employees that offers videos and tip sheets for handling a variety of situations.

Poole cautions HR professionals against trying to play mediator in every workplace conflict. Aside from being pressed for time themselves, HR professionals lose their objectivity when they “get bogged down in day-to-day petty squabbles at work.” Plus, there are potential legal ramifications for a company if an employee relies on certain advice from HR to the employee’s detriment, she says.

That’s why Poole recommends that employers equip managers and employees with skills and strategies to handle difficult people at work and to address problems that would otherwise get in the way of their success and productivity.

Develop Partnerships
Poole says it is important for HR professionals to reach out to managers and educate them about the types of issues they can—and can’t—discuss when dealing with a difficult worker.

For example, she suggests creating a rapport with managers so they feel comfortable coming to HR for advice, providing managers with statutory information (i.e., if you do XYZ, you will be in violation of ABC), and telling them what steps they can take to solve the problem yet still be compliant with the law.

She is also a supporter of behavioral modeling training, which involves teaching managers to coach employees. If, through the art of coaching, a manager can get an employee to think of a solution on her own, she will be more receptive to the solution, Poole says.

Managers should be held accountable for applying the principles they learn, she says. In addition, Poole recommends having managers attend employee training sessions on this topic and find ways to integrate the training into their daily interactions with employees.

“Training has to be a process and not an event,” Poole says. “HR’s job is to help the CEO and employees to maximize the investment the company has made in training, so that it is used day in and day out in the organization.”

To gain CEO buy-in for such training, HR professionals should “work as more of a consultant than an employee” and build a business case for the training, Poole says—for example, by pointing out connections between a drop in productivity and conflicts in the workplace.