12 Employee Types That Drive You Bonkers

Oh, those employee types that drive you bonkers! Have you ever worked with one, two, or even more co-workers who are difficult to manage? Perhaps either through a lack of productivity or a personality that makes you wonder why they are given their role or how they got to it.

Let’s start by examining some of these personality types.

The Entitled: this type comes in two varieties.

1. Those who believe that their skills and knowledge are necessary to the survival of the department or organization.
2. Those who have been working there for so long think they‘ve earned the right to do things on their own terms. How you manage those two types would be, for example, the ‘a’ type; you must assign low-level, must-do tasks to bring them back down to earth. With the ‘b’ type, you must assign low-level, must-do tasks to show them you are still the boss

The Connected: tend to pull their strength from someone above your head. For whatever reason, they are liked and protected. I have worked with one. It was always a pain to deal with them. Unfortunately, it’s worse when these employees are not productive, which often is the case. The best way to manage is to document their shortcomings, and poor performance; producing genuine evidence and supporting facts goes a long way.

The Self-Absorbed: the good part about this type is that they are productive; the downside is that they are out for themselves. They are not team players and rarely will help others. They keep their ideas to themselves and do not see collaboration as a positive thing. Such a person may have low confidence and need recognition, giving it time and helping them share their knowledge with others. There may be an ego at stake here for them.

The Office Gossipers: they are the faultfinder, the friendly one, the hanging around cubicles chitty chatty one, the overly helpful one, and the comedian at the company at other people’s expense. They have a magnetic personality that attracts bitter, disillusioned co-workers and bullies. You will need to move in fast to stop the gossiper from forming a destructive work environment and hurting others who fall prey to those who think everything is a joke or harmless.

The Delegator: this personality type likes to free themselves from tasks they should be doing. They are the lazy ones. They delegate the tasks they dislike and busy themselves with ‘pretend’ or less involved/targeted tasks to show that they are contributing while sending mixed messages to others about their role and what they are engaged in. To manage them, you will need to communicate clearly defined duties/tasks, expectations, and accountability to the assigned tasks they are given.

The Busy Bee: on the upside, they are very productive; however, on the downside, they can get overwhelmed, overburdened, and stressed by taking on more than they can handle. This personality type tends to see their value and worth by taking on more tasks, getting involved in all sorts of projects, and helping here and there, to the point they feed off that busy, chaotic schedule. To manage this person, assign long-term tasks to keep them occupied. Check on their workload to adjust whether they can handle the amount. Having a defined clear picture of what projects are important and how they positively impact the overall picture and contribute to the outcome will help the busy bee to stay grounded and focused on one primary task at a time.

The Self-Centered: those are painful to deal with. Everything they do revolves around them. They love to talk about themselves and lack awareness outside of themselves. They won’t go out of their way for anything or anyone if it’s inconvenient. For the most part, they take more than they give. Perhaps one way to manage them is through a reward system or an agreement. You provide something they value; they return the favor as such. Sometimes you might have to bite the bullet and listen to their story of glory to get them to complete a task for you.

The Pusher & The Bully: by far, they are the worst. They create a hostile work environment. No one wants to work for or with them. Most employees try to avoid them, which does not help the situation. This personality type accomplishes their work by pushing, bullying, and forcing others to conform to their way of doing things on their schedules. They dismiss anyone who tries to delay them from their mission or has a different opinion or idea. They resort to coercion and force to get their way. One way to manage this person is to surround them with staff with equal or greater knowledge of the tasks to be completed. Ensure they are charismatic team players and collaborative individuals. Put a few of those around them to force the bullies to play nice.

The Happy Go Lucky, All Out Helpful: those types always happy, smiling around the office, all out helpful, showing up in your space all the time wanting to help you. You find them everywhere, and you can’t escape them. They will water your plant; they pick up coffee for you. Heck, they will talk to your boss on your behalf. You begin to wonder what their job is. Be wary, as they are the meddlers. How do they have so much time on their hands to help everyone? These types enjoy being well-liked and depended on. To keep them at a distance, give them tasks that seem important to you, explain that you need their help, and see them go for it. That should buy you time and distance and be strategic on things you ask them to help you with.

The Difficult, It’s Not My Job: those are hard-shelled ones. They don’t like to get involved or help others. They love their routine job; they want to do just enough for the pay. Most days, they enjoy being alone with no one to disturb them. To manage them, you have to get them interested in being involved. Play on their strengths. Find what they are best at and ask them for their expertise. Let them know that tasks for the project can’t succeed without their expert knowledge. Explain the big picture, that they will be involved in the success of the team/project etc.

The Disorganized: they claim they never got the invite, never got the email, or ask if they were copied. These ones will blame circumstances or others for missed deadlines or targets. They will claim they only receive information at the last minute and must work magic to complete the assignment. Blaming co-workers’ time management skills is an often-used excuse here. Time management courses are helpful here regarding their overall workload. Coaching on managing email and calendars may help. You may have to remove some tasks and slowly add them back as progress is made. Weekly check-ins and regular follow-ups are good.

The Seasoned Long Termed: claim ‘that’s how we’ve always done it.’ Their currency is information, and they will use it to maintain a perceived ‘too important to lose’ status. They will play down new ideas in favor of sticking to the current process as it requires less effort. They love to say, ‘if it’s not broken, why to fix it?’ Routine is very much in their wheelhouse. Try getting their involvement by ‘secretly’ introducing them to new projects or changes. Let them know they will be instrumental in the success and training of the other employees.

Lastly, we have all worked with one or more personality types. Finding ways to deal with and manage them will ease those stressful and difficult moments when you interact with each one. I have personally worked with all the above personality types. You will find them in every organization; unfortunately, a few will exhibit more than one type (for example, Disorganized and Long Tenured together). However, it is from painful learned experiences that I can finally say I have smartened up and begun to find common ground to work with them for my peace of mind.