Doing nothing about poor behaviour from top performers is a workplace culture risk, warns employment lawyer Melini Pillay
Employers that tolerate poor behaviour from their high performers are paying for it in staff turnover, workers' compensation claims and reputational damage and many are choosing to do nothing about it.
Melini Pillay, principal at McCabes Lawyers, said the problem usually starts with a familiar line of thinking in leadership teams: the person is too valuable to lose. Clients love them, the growth plan depends on them and their output can exceed that of two colleagues combined.
The trouble, Pillay said, sits on the other side of the ledger. Junior staff turnover and discontent are often traced back to the same individual, through a lack of mentorship and leadership, and a habit of talking down to junior employees, sometimes without realising it and with no interest in changing.
The fallout can surface as workers' compensation claims or personal leave, while management watches good people leave without knowing how to respond.
Pillay said the damage does not stay inside the business.
"There's another silent cost to this behaviour – which is when these people join other businesses, they share the story of what it was to work at XYZ Pty Ltd, creating an undercurrent of unforeseen reputational damage," she said.
"These are also usually the businesses complaining about resourcing issues 'we pay well and yet we can't...
[OSEN=Choi Lee-jung Reporter] As past remarks by singer Yang Hong-won expressing his dislike of infidelity resurface, reactions continue to grow that the recent 'motel infidelity allegations' agai...