Cafe Classic: Irked Enough to Care

Editor's Note: In this Classic post, a favorite of mine, Derek Irvine challenges us to see the difference between two types of "problem" employees and to realize the potential value of some of those squeaky wheels.  

Do you have any “malcontent” employees? The ones who are always complaining? The ones who, no matter what, are never happy with their job, their colleagues, their managers, the company?

What about “vocal” employees? These are different from the malcontents, though "vocal" employees also have no fear about expressing their opinions on how the team, project or company could be better.

A good argument can be made for exiting the true malcontents (those who are thoroughly disengaged). But too often the “vocal” employees are lumped in with them.

How do you tell the difference between the malcontents and the vocals? Listen to the intent behind their words.

A vocal employee will convey an attitude of: “I’m engaged enough to be irked.”

Employees who are engaged enough to be irked still care. If they didn’t care about the success of the project/team/company, they wouldn’t invest effort to complain or even register emotional concern.

The challenge for managers of vocal employees is to listen constructively to what is being expressed and then respond appropriately in one of three ways:

1)    Agree and take action. Acknowledge the employee is right in their assessment and then take action to implement changes.

2)    Disagree and communicate. Hear the employee out, but if the anger is genuinely misdirected (usually due to lack of a complete picture of the situation) explain to the employee more fully why things are the way they are and how the employee can be more successful within those boundaries.

3)    Agree and do nothing.  Acknowledge the employee’s point of view but take no further action.

The first two responses are fair and honest. Either could be appropriate and the best reaction depending on the situation. The third response is a cop-out. Refusing to take action or redirect employee emotion more productively will result in a “vocal” employee becoming a true malcontent.

Why am I writing about this in a blog about compensation and recognition? To employees who care, and “vocal” employees certainly do, truly listening to them and taking action is a powerful form of recognition. Validating employee concerns shows you pay attention to what is valuable to them.

Bottom Line: Listen to the employees who care enough to be irked.

As Globoforce’s Executive Vice President of Client Strategy and Consulting, Derek Irvine is an internationally minded management professional with over 20 years of experience helping global companies set a higher ambition for global strategic employee recognition, leading workshops, strategy meetings and industry sessions around the world. He is a leader in the WorkHumanmovement and the co-author of "The Power of Thanks" and his articles on fostering and managing a culture of appreciation through strategic recognition have been published in Businessweek, Workspan and HR Management. Derek splits his time between Dublin and Boston. Follow Derek on Twitter at @DerekIrvine.