Isolate toxic employees to reduce their negative effects

HAPPINESS

We each have a much bigger effect — both positive and negative — on one another’s emotions than we might think. In their book “Connected,” Harvard professor Nicholas Christakis and political scientist James Fowler show that happiness spreads not just between pairs of people but also from a person to his friends, to his friends’ friends and then to those friends’ friends. In other words, if a friend of a friend of a friend of yours becomes happier, you may too. Their findings show that frequent, superficial, face-to-face interactions can powerfully influence happiness.

Unfortunately, negative actions spread the same way. A seemingly small act of rudeness can ripple across communities, affecting people in our network with whom we may or may not interact directly. The odds of this negative effect increase if an employee has a pattern of toxic actions, which can be defined as enduring, recurring set of negative judgments, feelings and behavioral intentions toward another person. This is why it’s crucial that employees and managers recognize and deal with toxic employees as swiftly as possible. And often the only way to reduce the effect of toxic people on others is to isolate them.

So how should you do this?

Ideally, you would ask the person to leave the organization. But often circumstances may prevent that, at least in the short term. In those cases, you can still isolate the person from other employees so the effects don’t spread. Put some physical distance between the offender and the rest of the team by reassigning

projects, rearranging the office layout, scheduling fewer all-hands meetings or encouraging people to work from home.

This will decrease the number of in-person interactions, which should reduce the emotional, psychological and cognitive losses that pull people off track, leading to reduced performance, creativity and turnover. Of course, do this with discretion. Let employees come to you with their complaints about the toxic colleague, and use one-on-one conversations to coach them on how they might minimize their interactions. You might also consider letting other employees work remotely or flexible hours.

Put more focus on where the toxic employee works. Often this is more efficient than trying to rearrange everyone else’s schedules. An even easier fix is if the toxic employee is able to work remotely. The more independently the toxic person can work, the more you will limit the negative effects.

The overall health of your organization partly depends on how you deal with toxic employees. Toxic employees are simply too costly to ignore. Like a virus, their negativity can spread through your team and organization. To immunize your organization, consider what you can do to isolate the toxic person — or get rid of them altogether. Your employees and organization will have a much better chance of thriving. And you will have a much better chance of retaining your talent.