You know who they are. They know who they are.

You know you should manage them out but you just don’t get around to it and so you keep them on. Month after month, year after year. In front of you they spout the company line. It’s all rah-rah and go team and let’s make it happen yesterday. It’s all about us and our company. But they say it with a sarcastic smile that you can read like a book but you let it go.

You make excuses for them but you know deep down those are your excuses. You keep them by rationalising they work cheaper and you will have to replace them and their replacements will probably be just as bad. Or worse. Better the devil you know, right?

Of course in the back of your mind there is also the fear they will take you to an industrial tribunal. You are pretty sure they will and you’ve already heard rumours about where your company is vulnerable and how they can get you in your weak spot. Intimidation is definitely part of their strategy.

You’ve got more important things on your plate so you rationalise it away. You rationalise that their doom and gloom on any company improvements are simply misguided enthusiasm…

You let them get away with it because the minimal employee is an expert at feeding into all your insecurities and weaknesses. They probably know you better than you know yourself but unfortunately they use this knowledge against you. They know how to pull your string and will be against any changes in the status quo as they could be next. They go through all this because it’s easier than looking for a new job. Besides, it’s what they do.

If it were just you and them it might be all right. But no company lives in a vacuum. Minimal employees subtly poison your work environment every chance they get. To you it’s all smiles but to colleagues it’s a constant series of negatives and morale busters. They are quick to point out all the faults in others but become defensive about their own faults.

The problem is it doesn’t stop there. It spreads throughout your company and to your vendors and (gasp!) to your clients and customers. A rotten apple soon spoils the whole box. Besides, why should they care if your company is profitable? It’s not their company.

But they won’t go voluntarily. It’s not easy finding a boss like you that will let them get by without being accountable and productive. A good boss like that is hard to find. They know you can get rid of them but they also know you are not really focused on your company so at least they will get by while the getting is good. What to do? Well, you can try to counsel or rehab them. You can write them up and go through a series of reviews. But counseling won’t work because it took them lifetime to develop their minimal personality and a bad review certainly won’t change that. A bad review to them is simply another piece of paper.

The only cure is to get rid of them.

What to do? First check your Employee Manual to see what policies and procedures you have in place for dealing with the minimal employee. If you don’t have a manual or your manual is minimal itself, then you may need to consider other measures. And put an Employee Manual on your to-do list.

You have to play hardball because minimal people sure do. If it’s too messy to reorganize, simply reduce their hours. If they are fulltime, make them part time. Make sure you do your homework and just don’t single them out from all your other employees with the same classification. Then they can say it’s discrimination. Unless you can document they are a minimal employee. Which of course you can, no?
Globally, you need to rate each employee: keepers, maybes, and goners. The idea is to cycle out the goners and bring in keepers. Each year you should be cycling out your minimal employees and replacing them with better employees.

But if you are just remember that minimal employees hurt morale, stunt growth and every day cost your company money. From the management perspective it’s only a matter of when and how to let them go.

So if not now when? If not here where? If not them who?