Don’t let bad apples upset your apple cart

I must admit we are very pleased with this week’s announcement that RedBalloon remains in the number nine position for the Great Place to Work survey.

I’ve shared previously about what I think creates a fabulous work place – trust and purpose are key. One of the questions I had recently at a speaking engagement is very relevant: ‘What if you have a rotten apple inside your organisation – someone who is not just disengaged but subversive?’

We are pretty close to our people at RedBalloon – as a leadership team we are all committed to the team and we listen and recognise contribution. But engagement is a journey. It is many, many ongoing activities. It has taken an amazing commitment from everyone in the business to want to be a part of a Great Place to Work.

I responded to the question: ‘Act quickly. Cynicism and anti-social behavior cannot be tolerated – there is a place for these people but not inside your business – if someone is not living the values and contributing, they need to be somewhere else. As a leadership team if we don’t act quickly then the trust and values we have worked so hard to nurture will begin to look like lip service. It might be unpleasant – but our people expect us to be forthright and make the tough decisions.’

Many years ago we recruited someone who was in a very autonomous role. After just a few months I was beginning to here whispers from his team that all was not right. There were a few resignations in that team, which seemed odd. One of those employees in the exit interview outlined that this colleague had in fact been using company resources to run his own business – during work hours. When challenged by his colleagues he had said ‘that I knew about it – and had condoned it’. The employees were confused. It looked as if I was saying one thing but turning a blind eye. So they went to find jobs elsewhere.

His actions and words completely undermined our values and the trust in the leadership team.

I was listening to Stuart King, Managing Director of KWS Workplace Solutions at a recent HR conference. His business looks at bad apples. According to Stuart ‘Essentially bad stuff happens in the community, and workplaces are a microcosm of that… so bad people exist in workplaces. Sometimes the culture puts controls over them, on other occasions it gives them license – it is our job to weed them out.’

RedBalloon didn’t use outside services to investigate our problem. But in some cases it would be much better to have expert support in such an investigation.

Our ‘bad apple’ chose to disappear quickly and quietly when confronted. Our culture would not allow such behavior to go unnoticed for long.

So my advice is – if you think you have a problem, don’t ignore it, it won’t go away. Get external help if needed. Act quickly! Otherwise all your hard engagement work will be a complete waste of energy.

However, we as employers have a responsibility, we cannot just pass the problem on to some other employer, if unlawful activities have taken place then the appropriate actions must be taken – no matter how unpleasant – your people will respect you for it. We cannot have the bad apple upsetting someone else’s apple cart.

Naomi Simson is considered one of Australia’s ‘Best Bosses’. She is an employee engagement advocate and practices what she preaches in her own business. RedBalloon has been named as one of only six Hewitt Best Employers in Australia and New Zealand for 2009 and awarded an engagement scorecard of over 90% two years in a row – the average in Australian businesses is 55%. RedBalloon has also been nominated by BRW as being in the top 10 Best Places to Work in Australia behind the likes of Google. One of Australia’s outstanding female entrepreneurs, Naomi regularly entertains as a passionate speaker inspiring people on employer branding, engagement and reward and recognition. Naomi writes a blogand is a published author – and has received many accolades and awards for the business she founded – RedBalloon.com.au.