7 Steps to Managing a Disgruntled Employee

Managing a disgruntled employee is one of the most difficult things an employer can do. A disgruntled employee would often wreck the culture by sharing their common toxic traits with other employees. It becomes even more concerning when their behavior has a negative impact on the customer experience as unhappy employees are less likely to go the extra mile to ensure that your customers are happy.

First of all, you need to understand that your employee isn’t necessarily going to stay disgruntled forever. When you hire someone new at their position, your company needs their skills right now. If you don’t give them a reason to stay disgruntled, then they’ll leave when they find another job that offers more growth opportunities.

An image of a manager giving disciplinary warning to a disgruntled employee.

So the question becomes: how do we keep an employee who’s becoming disgruntled? We answer the question and tell you how to handle an upset employee in this article.

What is a disgruntled employee?

A disgruntled employee is an employee who feels like they are being treated unfairly or not applauded for their work so far. These employees usually feel upset after an action taken by either the management, a colleague, or a customer. They tend to display various actions which disturb the entire workplace until their problem is being attended to.

How to Handle a Disgruntled Employee

There are various ways on how to handle an upset employee. We have provided steps to take to make the process smoother and less difficult, and they include:

Use the Best Approach—Immediately

The first step to take in managing a disgruntled employee is to take quick action. The more time you waste doing nothing will only affect your company. You will have to make a quick decision on the matter. There are two best approaches to use. You can either decide to let such an employee go (which we won’t usually support unless it’s necessary) or you try to find out why they are behaving this way and discipline your employee for their disgruntled attitude.

Have a Meeting with the Employee

Another step on how to handle a disgruntled employee is to prepare a meeting right after you have decided to go with the second approach — to find out what the problem is. You will have to inform the employee about this meeting and bring your facts and data to the meeting too.

Listen to Them

When managing a disgruntled employee, you will have to provide room for them to speak. Try to understand where the problem is coming from. Try to look beyond the behavior and see what led up to it, if possible. For example, if someone is continually late, try asking them why they’re late every time they’re late. You might find out something surprising.

Proffer Solutions

As an employer, you should provide solutions that will help to combat the problem. Provide opportunities for them to improve their performance through feedback and coaching—or even just by being supportive of their efforts as long as they’re working hard and doing good work every day.

Follow Up

Another step on how to handle a disgruntled employee is to do a regular check-in with them to ensure that the solutions provided are working. Evaluate their behavior from time to time and ensure you write down everything. This will help in case of future happenings.

Reassess the Company

Employees might have an issue with the company’s policies and work culture, re-evaluating and reassessing will help you to make amends and correct the notions.

Maintain an open line of communication

You should also preach communication in your workplace as another step on how to handle a disgruntled employee. Advise employees to feel free to reach out whenever they feel they are unfairly treated or not properly appreciated. This will help you in managing a disgruntled employee and avoiding such problems from happening again.

Disgruntled Employee Signs

We’ve provided some disgruntled employee signs to look out for. They include:

• Delivering bad work consistently.
• Being disengaged at work.
• Having constant disagreements with team members and other employees.
• Showing improper behaviors like coming late to work, abusive communication with others, etc.

Managing a disgruntled employee can be a true headache for any manager. But if you’re ready to take the steps to help your employee feel valued and respected, it’s important to know what to do before you get into an argument.

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