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Original poster

How to deal with employee who always assumes malicious intent?

59 replies

ToClimb · 15/07/2025 06:10

Looking for some advice. I have an employee who is very good at their job, can be relied upon and could go far in her career, however, she is becoming more and more unmanageable. She has always had a habit of being extremely detailed about things and becoming over involved. We manage contracts and sometimes it feels like she actually tries to manage the delivery of the contract. This means that she spends far too long doing simple tasks, so does half the workload of anyone else. But complains she has too much work and can't do any more.

When I try to work with her to talk about this, she gets defensive and has started to become more and more passive aggressive. It is starting to impact others. She rolls her eyes and huffs in meetings and I'm at the end of my tether with her.

Any ideas how to approach this. I am starting to dread working with her.

OP posts:
Fozzleyplum · 15/07/2025 06:55

....and for how long has she been continuously employed by the company?

Fozzleyplum · 15/07/2025 06:54

Are you her employer ( ie the business owner), or are you a more senior employee and if so, is she your direct report?

Original poster
ToClimb · 15/07/2025 06:54

She refuses to do other tasks outside of her job description, so giving her tasks more suited to her skill set is impossible. She really would be great in an operational role but she would have to take a pay cut to get one so refuses. She doesn't understand that you need experience in that arsa to get where she is now in a no operational role@Agix

OP posts:
Yesyouknowit · 15/07/2025 06:52

How long has she worked there?

Yesyouknowit · 15/07/2025 06:51

Are you her boss?

Original poster
ToClimb · 15/07/2025 06:50

Yes I have pointed out her behaviour and it's impact on others. She doesn't grasp it and thinks managers are picking on her. I've been approaching conversations in a supportive way, telling her how she is appreciated and we see her going far, but she needs to work more collaboratively.

For example we have a lit of checks and balances with contracts. Each team member adds there specialism and she needs to use this info to manage the contract as well as her own in put. She will go back and recheck everyone else's jobs. This is not needed. They are all specialists and know what they are doing.

She is getting in her own way at getting promotion etc because of this. Which seems to breed resentment, not only in her but also those whose work she is checking , but she can't see that redoing work already done by others is not a strength, it makes her job longer and is not needed. These other people are registered experts and she is not. She has been given no reason to do this. They are all competent.

OP posts:
Agix · 15/07/2025 06:28

Extremely detailed and spends "too long" doing simple tasks. Sounds like me. If you asked me though , other people arnt doing those simple tasks correctly which is why they're doing them so quickly - which is why when we get an audit, anything that is my work always comes back as stellar, but we get in trouble if it's someone else's work being audited because they've missed a tonne of things. Thankfully, my manager recognises this though, and told me not to change or worry about the time I take.

So, I suppose I want to ask, is she actually doing those simple tasks to a better standard? Does she have strong points to her work?

Woukd her strength in being detailed be a strong plus point if given other tasks to do? Because in many roles that would be a strength - maybe not in the one she has now, but could there be a way your team could make the most of it?

Don't expect a fish to fly.

Maybe she's being pissy because she recognises that actually she has strengths that you're completely overlooking. Maybe she feels that her colleagues are falling below standard and it's just being allowed to happen, whilst she is getting targeted just for being meticulous trying to keep standards up.

Just a thought. Might be entirely wrong. Might be worth you considering though.

AlexandraJJ · 15/07/2025 06:16

Have you pointed out this behaviour to her and asked if she is aware of it and the reasons why she is acting this way? In private of course. If you haven’t already it’s time to set clear boundaries and expectations about behaviour and attitude. By all means offer support to help her to this if she needs it with regular follow ups and reviews. Time for tough love.

MidnightPatrol · 15/07/2025 06:14

How are you approaching the conversations with her?

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