Employees who always complain

In remote work environment, especially during the current pandemic, a small number of leaders think that their employees who underperform probably deserve more attention than the rest or those who lack enthusiasm are probably less engaged. This needs to attract managers’ serious attention as this category of employees who happen to remain restless and disengaged don’t only cause conflicts @Work and but adversely destroy the Employee Engagement Index (EEI) of the organisation.

A million-dollar question that managers must ask themselves why do these employees complain all the time just about anything and everything?  Be it their work from home (WFH) issues relating to working hours, project deadlines, internet connection, laptop, cellphone or any other business tools that are needed to stay connected with the office. 

On the other hand, as a manager or a team lead, who comes to your mind when you think of a perfect employee? In most cases it only takes a second or two to answer this question as you very well know your high performers. Your best employees constantly impress you with their work and the positive impact they have on others. Great employees are hard to find and replaced with. So, please pay attention to them more than anything because they talk through their feet. They will leave you if you don’t value them. 

In this article, we shall attempt to discuss who are these employees who complain and why they do it?

1. Why do employees complain?

There could be multiple answers to this question: Complainants are usually frustrated, agitated and emotionally unstable people. They either don’t like their work and colleagues or they feel really good about it when they complain. This is another form of gossip and requires minimal risk, and it’s easy for them to do so.

Here’s what actually happens: Someone annoys us. We’re dissatisfied with how they’re behaving. Maybe we’re angry, frustrated, or threatened. Those feelings build up as energy in our bodies, literally creating physical discomfort (that’s why we call them feelings — because we actually, physically, feel them).

When we complain about someone else, the uncomfortable feelings begin to dissipate because complaining releases the pent-up energy. That’s why we say things like “I’m venting” or “I’m blowing off steam” Remember, dissipation doesn’t just release the energy, it spreads it, which actually makes it grow.

Complaining changes, the balance of energy and, for a brief moment at least, we feel better. It’s actually a pretty reliable process. Addictive even.

2. Why is complaining such a bad move?

Complaining creates a number of dysfunctional side effects, beyond the precious time wasted, it creates factions, prevents or delays — because it replaces — productive engagement, reinforces and strengthens dissatisfaction, riles up others, breaks trust, and, potentially, makes the complainer appear negative. We become the cancer we’re complaining about; the negative influence that seeps into the culture.

Think about it: someone yells at you in a meeting. Then you go to the next meeting, where no one is yelling and you complain about the person who just yelled. Now other people, who weren’t at the previous meeting, feel the impact of the yelling and get upset about it too. Encouraged by their support, your brief, momentary release transforms into righteous indignation and, becoming even more incensed, you experience the initial uncomfortable feelings all over again.

In fact, that might be the biggest problem: Complaining is a violent move to inaction. It replaces the need to act. If instead of complaining, we allowed ourselves to feel the energy without needing to dissipate it immediately — which requires what I call emotional courage — then we could put that energy to good use. We could channel it so it doesn’t leak out sideways.

In other words, let the uncomfortable feeling you have — the one that would otherwise lead you to complain — lead you to take a productive action.

3. When & whom should we complain to? 

It’s simple. Go ahead and complain. Just do it directly — and thoughtfully — to the person who is the cause of your complaints.

Invite the person to a meeting room, shut the door and talk to the him / her who yelled in the meeting, say “Hold on. Let’s respect each other in this conversation.” If you missed the opportunity in the moment, then meet with them afterwards and say, “Please let’s respect each other in our conversations.”

That, of course, also takes emotional courage. It’s a scary, more risky thing to do. But it’s why it’s worth developing your emotional courage — because, while scary, it’s far more likely to be highly productive. It holds the potential for changing the thing that’s the problem in the first place. And rather than become the negative influence, you become the leader. Always remember, we all are working for money but not at the cost of our self-respect. 

4. When is the time to escalate? 

If behaviors do not change, it's time to move from coaching to counselling.  Coaching is designed to elicit positive change in behaviors by offering guidance, encouragement, and specific action steps. If the person in question holds a senior position, involve his supervisor or route your complaint through your HR.

While chronic complainers seem harmless on the surface, the damage may become irreparable in the long run. You owe it to your team, your organisation, and yourself to remove toxic behavior from the workplace.

5. Identify your employees’ potential 

The chronic complainer infects the workplace culture by spreading negativity and creating doubt in team members' minds. For managers striving to implement a new program or policy, this subtle but aggressive behavior gets in the way of driving positive change.

Becoming involved in your employees' daily work and routines is essential because it helps you stay in tune with their issues, accomplishments or valid concerns. You might have complainers who don't know how to address the issues they see.

They could have had good ideas in the past, but have never been listened to—so they complain to be heard. Addressing complaint culture before it causes problems prevents workplace disruption—it might also help you turn a complaining employee with unique ideas back into a productive one.

Final Word

Working with a chronic complainer is annoying and exhausting. You know the type—nothing pleases them, and they find fault in management’s every utterance, implicitly suggesting the people in charge are operating with a fatal deficiency of intelligence and common sense.

Managers should work quickly to stop these characters before the damage to morale spreads and threatens the team’s working environment. However, as with every management situation, there are right and wrong approaches for handling difficult people.

Learn how sometimes smaller things in our lives make huge impact and you can take some learnings on a personal and professional level by following me on LinkedIn and on our official website. Also follow us on social media: Facebook, LinkedIn, Medium, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Muhammad Sajwani is the Founder, Managing Director and Principal Consultant at Evolve HR which aims at transforming, enriching and evolving Human Capital of Pakistan. At Evolve HR, him and his team thrives in challenging assumptions that hinder organisational aspirations, by creating innovative solutions that yield maximum impact, scalability & benefit to a wider base of stakeholders. As a Business Coach and Organisational Consultant, Sajwani knows how to combine business insights with people insights to transform organisations and put them on the path to growth.