You may be thinking, why should I be concerned about how a disgruntled employee
evolves? My answer: being aware of how a disgruntled employee evolves can lead to finding ways to slow (if not circumvent) the evolution thereby enabling the employee to remain productive for the respective team a little longer. As we all have a general familiarity with plants (they are a living thing that basically require sun and water to grow), I would like to compare a disgruntled employee with a plant that has reached its permanent wilting point (pwp).
According to the dictionary of botany the permanent wilting point is the point at which the amount of water in the soil has dropped to such a level that the plants begin to wilt and will not recover, […] unless more water is added to the soil.
Consider soil for plants as equivalent to the working environment for employees. Soil needs to be cared for, watered, fertilized to produce strong, healthy plants. The same holds true for the working environment. The work environment (soil) is where the day-to-day interaction creates various experiences creating healthy or poor growth (disgruntlement).
Disgruntled employees tend to have, or perceive generally similar work experiences:
1) A negative situation occurs and it is not resolved in an expedient manner
2) The employee believes they are not being heard by leadership and develop a victim mindset
3) Wash, wear, repeat
The way it plays out is, interaction among employees occur as a natural means of doing business. When a negative situation occurs, a deviation from the normal day-to-day operations happens and it activates other protocols. When no one from management intervenes right away, the employee discusses the situation(s) with others, for example, family members, friends or coworkers that are non-management and it is not their purview/authority to address the situation. Family, friends, and coworkers lack the authority to address the situation but they do comfort the employee by lending a supportive sympathetic ear and validate their ‘victim’ or ‘wronged’ status. This cycle continues further reinforcing beliefs as like or similar situations occur.
Continuing our plant metaphor, water is a critical resource for plants. Cutting off the water supply to a plant is equivalent to cutting off both communication and access to proper resources to employees. Ensuring communication and access to proper resources contributes to addressing negative working experiences to achieve a positive outcome, thereby avoiding the permanent wilting point or disgruntled employee.
1) A negative situation occurs and is addressed in an expedient manner
2) Skepticism and sarcasm is minimized
3) Management acknowledges the situation, communicates with employee and works to provide closure
Therefore, a better case scenario: A negative situation occurs, a deviation to the normal day-to-day operations happens and it activates other protocols. At this point management or someone at least in the leadership group acknowledges the occurrence and time permitting engages the respective employees involved. Additionally, the aforementioned management official minimizes skepticism and sarcasm by advising the involved employees to contain the negative situation by not discussing the information with others. The last and most critical step is to gather the facts and provide closure to the negative situation. Note: Closure does not mean finalizing the negative situation in the would-be disgruntled employee’s favor. Rather, it does mean informing the employee of the results determined by the facts that were gathered.
If a disgruntled employee was a plant, they would be considered at their permanent wilting point. However, when negative incidents occur, followed by timely engagement from a proper management official could provide the needed water to the soil (work environment). If managed correctly, it could possibly enable the employee to remain productive for the respective team a little longer.
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