By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady

The best way to deal with difficult employees is to avoid hiring them, advises attorney Dan Forman. BLR® founder and CEO Bob Brady says that while Forman is half-joking, he makes the serious point that difficult employees usually start out that way. They do not become different people after they get their ID badges and company e-mail addresses. Their “difficult” traits are usually there for all to see—if only we want to look.

Forman, a partner with the San Francisco law firm, Carlton DiSante & Freudenberger LLP, spoke about techniques for screening out potentially difficult employees during his presentation at the California Employment Law Update held earlier this month in San Francisco. The event was sponsored by the Employer Resource Institute, a BLR subsidiary.

Forman asked members of the audience to talk about the techniques they use to screen out unsuitable applicants. The audience enthusiastically offered numerous suggestions, some of which are highlighted here.

Questions

  • One participant suggested asking, "Have you ever worked for a difficult supervisor?" and listening for clues about how they would behave in your workplace. If they say, for example, "Yes, I had to be at work at exactly 8 o'clock," you are alerted to a big potential problem. "If they think that having to be at work on time constitutes a difficult supervisor, we probably don't want them."
  • Another member of the audience, citing the difficulty of predicting whether well-spoken applicants will be successful in the sales positions for which they are applying, suggests asking them about what sales awards they won in prior jobs. "And don't just take their word for it," she added. "Ask to see the awards." She observed that sales people are proud of their awards and the good ones will eagerly bring them in.
  • Try to get managers of supervisors who interview applicants to reflect on their general impressions of applicants, "and really listen," suggested another. He looks for subtle clues that managers may have missed but that could indicate mismatches. Recently, a supervisor noted in passing that an applicant "talked a lot." Reflecting on it, they agreed that this was a warning signal that should not have been ignored. After discussing it, they realized that this was a very bad sign.
  • Ask about problems they've had at other jobs. If it's always someone else who is creating the problem, they may be displaying an unwillingness to take personal responsibility that will probably carry over to your workplace.

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  • How do they deal with the forms that have to be filled out during the application process? If they get things wrong, or make mountains out of molehills, don't expect them to magically transform once you've hired them.
  • Replicate the conditions of the workplace during the interview. One participant said that his organization starts work at 6 a.m., so they interview early, too. "If you get pushback on the phone, they're not going to be on time."
  • Another member of the audience said she has a manager who "always hired problem employees." Her colleagues sympathized. They suggested extra interviewing help for the manager, and also making that failure a big part of the manager’s performance appraisal.

Behavior

Forman observed—and I certainly agree 100 percent—that one of the interesting (but not new or novel) things about these comments is the way they center on behavior rather than job skills. If it has been said once, it's been said a billion times: When a new hire doesn't work out, more often than not it is a life skill failure, not inability to do the "real work." Despite the fact that we can test and evaluate for job skills pretty well, most interviewers concentrate on them, ignoring equally important behavioral traits.

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HR's Role

How can HR help? Obviously, by applying these tips (and others) in their own interviews and educating managers and supervisors to do the same. Even more so, as suggested by the attendee who really listened, HR can help interviewers "replay" the interview, looking for clues they may have overlooked. Interviews are stressful, and not just for the applicants.

What do you do?

Do you have a favorite interviewing question of selection technique you'd like to share with colleagues? E-mail it to me at Rbrady@blr.com and I'll put them together and publish them in the near future.

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