Games people play in office

Failure to return calls or reply to emails, correcting grammar in the middle of a conversation, beating around the bush, arguing for the sake of arguing, always being late are just a handful of the usual complaints that any workplace receives. Being a microcosm with people from various educational, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, an office often gets burdened under the weight of employee complaints that appear petty at the first glance but can be highly impactful to workplace efficiency and organisational culture.

From being super casual with work to being the office joker, a bully or noise-maker, being too opinionated or highly impatient, forgetful or a free rider on projects; all of these could be petty and annoying habits, says Vikas Bansal, chief human resource officer, Edelweiss, Tokio Life Insurance. “But with repetition, these habits can get on to you, can impact the work environment and the concerned employee’s performance and perception and require precious time to resolve escalations.”

Organisations keep receiving petty complaints time and again, some that appear hilarious, while others way too annoying.

Rohan Vaswani, Chief Human Resources Officer, Nexus Malls, a subsidiary of the Blackstone Group, says they have received complaints pertaining to personal preferences such as chewing of tobacco, lack of hygiene including bad breath and body odour.

Anisha Menon, a marketing executive with a bank, recalls how the seemingly flimsy issue of a colleague spraying deodorant at the desk resulted in a flare up of egos. “Despite repeated requests to this guy to refrain from using the work desk as a podium for freshening up, he kept showering himself with the deo. Finally, we (teammates) gave him a sound hearing. This lead to the concerned employee showing his displeasure by not joining us for team lunches and outings, remaining aloof during meetings and not delivering work on time.’’

Experts say if petty complaints are tackled head-on, they could largely create a tense atmosphere, further affecting the cohesiveness and morale of all concerned, giving rise to newer conflicts and ego clashes.

‘’An employee who feels neglected and is blamed for some behaviour will start doubting his perception as a professional. This will impact motivation, thus affecting productivity,” says Vaswani.

And the negative impact is multi-fold. Firstly, say experts, it can distance the concerned employee from the rest of the team, thereby impacting his/her efficiency and output. Secondly, the inflamed atmosphere slows down the team’s productivity as the morale is down. Moreover, the time invested into investigating the problem, finding and implementing solutions can prove too precious in this competitive era.

So how best can petty complaints be tackled? Some experts believe that ‘hiring right’ can be an effective measure to prevent the occurrence of such an issue. Francis Padamadan, senior director, Asia Pacific, KellyOCG, says this problem can be nipped in the bud by the talent acquisition team by looking at certain desirable cultural traits in candidates at the time of hiring and acquiring only talents who fit into certain selection criteria or a cultural pattern. “Once the right employees are hired, chances of cutting down workplace attrition stemming from annoying employee habits can be curtailed.”

But despite the ‘right hire’, if annoying habits are still displacing the office equilibrium, Bansal advises the use of the ‘sandwich technique’. “Start with a soft approach to put the employee at ease. Bring in the feedback as you perceive it, its impact on business, understand the employee’s thoughts about it, discuss ways to overcome and end on a good note mentioning your confidence in his ability to overcome the habit,” says Bansal. He says that in any tough situation, it is necessary to attach the feedback to a business impact. “Let the employee know that his behaviour is not just impacting the business and co-workers, but also his own career prospects,” says Bansal.

Managers play a very important role in ensuring that any behaviour that is a hindrance to team-work is corrected right at the onset before it becomes an acceptable part of the culture, says Hamsaz Vasunia, head – HR, DCB Bank. “The millennials are a demanding lot and so organisations need to have a system where employees are heard.”

According to Anjali Raghuvanshi, chief people officer, Randstad India, counselling is another way of resolving petty complaints involving a few employees. “It is about bringing them together, hearing them out, guiding and encouraging them to move on. We also coach managers so that they can work towards bringing in confidence and transparency amongst their teams.”

GRUMBLE TIME

• Some experts believe that ‘hiring right’ can be an effective measure to prevent petty grievances
   
• If annoying habits continue, equilibrium at the workplace may go for a toss