Are Negative Attitudes Ruining Your Workplace Culture? Here’s How to Fix It!

Even just one bad apple can ruin the bunch. You’ve probably been there before. The unhappiness or negativity of one employee can make things difficult for the entire team. Workplace toxicity is a real problem, and if negative attitudes are ruining your workplace culture, there are several steps you can take to intervene. Today’s article will discuss the actions you can take as an employer to address group concerns and counteract the bad energy.

How Can I Improve Culture as a Manager?

1. Take a Good Look at the Workplace Culture

If employees are suffering from negative attitudes, there might be bigger problems playing a part in the issue. Look at the workplace culture overall to see if there are clear wins you can act on. Are you paying your employees enough to live a good life? Do you offer reasonable vacation and sick leave plans? What happens if an employee gets injured or needs to go on leave? These are things that really matter in whether an employee feels like their company has their back when times get tough.

2. Improving Bad Morale

There are times when productivity naturally drops due to difficulties on a project, high turnover rates or a general feeling of unhappiness within a group. These influencing factors can really make work difficult and need to be addressed as they occur. However, if the situation is one where a single employee’s dissatisfaction is having a negative impact on the whole team, there may be a bigger problem brewing. Depending on how connected that employee is to the overall team, their negative influence can all but destroy the morale of a group at large. Before diving in and taking sides, evaluate whether your morale problem stems from one employee or the team.

3. Focus on the Specifics

When you prepare to confront a disgruntled employee, be as specific as you can when trying to correct their behavior. General criticisms are not helpful in outlining the actions and improvements you want going forward, and rarely result in a positive response. If the negative attitude of the employee is resulting in missed deadlines, loss of productivity or poor quality of work, provide examples and show rather than tell them how their dissatisfaction is having a negative impact on the team.

4. Speak With the Team Openly

If a disgruntled employee leaves or is fired, it is often best to address the change with other team members openly and honestly while retaining any personally or professionally sensitive information. Silence from leadership on such issues can lead to gossip and hearsay that adds to the impact on team morale. Speaking with the team after the departure is a good way to reassure team members that they are not at risk of losing their jobs, answer any questions they might have and encourage the group to look ahead to more successes and positive outcomes.

Are you building a great team of Agriculture Professionals?

Knowing how to build a well-balanced and positive workplace culture requires years of industry experience and deep knowledge of the candidate pool. If you don’t have the time or the resources to invest do this, call in an expert. The team at Ag 1 Source is here to help. Contact us to find the talent you need.