By Adam Rostkowski, MA, AAI, president, ProActive Brokerage Inc.
A successful working environment is not the result of magic; there are many factors that make it happen. Some examples include teamwork, commitment, and most importantly, a positive, nurturing work environment.
As a young professional who has been in the insurance industry eight years, I have learned by working with many different people that there are employees who can bring the entire morale of a workplace down because of their actions. It has become an even more pressing issue for me as I started my own brokerage in the past year. The process of seeking out positive, dedicated employees can be tricky. As the saying goes, “It takes just one bad apple to spoil the bunch.”
What’s interesting is that, in most cases, these employees have common habits: frequent complaining, engaging in office gossip and outright work avoidance. These bad-attitude employees not only have immediate negative effect on the environment, but also have significant residual effects on any office morale.
How do you identify these “bad apples?” By looking for employees who:
- Distance themselves from responsibilities of any errors, deny all mistakes and explain away their actions
- Blame others by refusing to take any personal responsibility
- Focus on putting the blame on a specific person for a mistake rather than discussing how it actually happened
- Perform only the absolute minimum work required.
These types of employee behaviors are particularly worrisome in the insurance industry, a business focused on customer service and helping people when they are in need. Think of the risks associated with having an employee with a negative attitude handling delicate claims situations, such as a family that has lost its home to a fire or storm. It is a situation not likely to end well.
Furthermore, these employees can negatively impact the motivation of the rest of the workforce. Rumors and complaints tend to spread quickly throughout an office environment—what’s more interesting, the latest workplace gossip or that memo outlining office dress code? Ultimately, this type of negative behavior can reduce overall work efficiency and even lower the profitability of the company.
(Read an article, "Avoiding HR lawsuits in a shaky economy.")
What’s worse, in many cases, management may be aware of these employees, but fail to address the issue in an effort to avoid confrontation and not rock the boat. This causes a domino effect at work, spreading negative energy throughout the workplace. Keeping your “bad apple” around means not only poor work from that individual, but potential large-scale, long-lasting issues in the workplace, such as:
- Higher levels of conflict between employees
- Reduced level of workplace cooperation
- Anti-company or anti-management sentiment
Increased employee turnover
- Reduction of the quality of the overall product; and
- Acts of sabotage.
(Read an article, "Insuring against employee fraud.")
Must we accept this as an unfortunate consequence of human nature? Absolutely not! By proactively addressing such issues early on, you can avoid such negative attitudes seeping throughout your workplace culture. Have a preconceived plan for how to handle such sensitive issues and make it a point to correct these attitude issues early on, to ensure a workplace that is positive and rewarding.
Also, by working with and training managers on this topic, you can be sure that they are prepared to handle these situations. This can make a huge difference toward greater employee satisfaction and productivity in the entire work environment.
(Read an article, "Recruiting Generation Y.")
I will end with another familiar, fruit-related expression: The apple does not fall far from the tree. The same is true of your employees—their outlooks are a product of their work environment. Remember: Negative attitudes lead to destruction, while positive attitudes lead to construction.
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Adam Rostkowski, MA, AAI, CPIA, founded ProActive Brokerage Inc., an independent insurance brokerage in West Babylon, N.Y., in 2009. He serves as a director on the board of the New York Young Insurance Professionals.