All organizations have to deal with the "difficult"
employee. With enough knowledge of the law to be dangerous, this
employee seems to know all the right buttons to push and takes up a
considerable amount of time and resources to manage.
Employers, however, are not powerless to address the conduct and
performance of a difficult employee. The consistent use of a
performance management system allows an employer to chart
performance issues objectively for use in the event that the
employee alleges that he/she has been improperly treated in the
future. The performance management should be objective and
consistently applied to all employees. It should establish and
maintain reasonable productivity and efficiency standards and set
out clearly the expectation that employees will perform their
assigned duties in an appropriate and careful manner and also, that
employees will generally exhibit a positive attitude and consistent
work habits. And finally, it should be specific
