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The ?No Bad Apples Rule?

By James Peters

Employers could avoid a LOT of lawsuits if they would just follow the “No Bad Apples Rule”, which has its origins in a book written by Dr. Robert Sutton called “The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t”. Although I agree with Dr. Sutton that “bad apples” probably is not a strong enough word, to be politically correct I will use this less offensive term.

The basic premise of this rule is that employers refuse to allow employees who are disruptive, excessively arrogant, rude or downright mean to work in their company. Often these employees are kept around because they are the top salesperson in the office or some other performance-based reason.

However, the book focuses on the reality that no matter how productive these employees are, it is usually not worth keeping them around when you consider the havoc they wreak on workplace morale, the performance of others and the potential for lawsuits against the employer later on.

It is very common when talking to prospective clients that they actually loved their job before Mr. X was hired and turned the office into a combat zone. Regarding their manager’s reaction to these problem employees, these clients often tell me things like “my supervisor ignored it” or “my manager was oblivious to it”.

An employer is especially in trouble if the a–hole is white (or male, young, straight, etc.) and those complaining are black (or female, older, gay, etc.). In California, this is usually enough for the employee to bring a “hostile work environment” harassment claim and often prevail.

If employers would simply communicate more with their employees, be cognizant of sharp drops in morale, and do something about these problem employees when they are discovered, they could avoid an awful lot of lawsuits by jaded and disgruntled employees.

Special thanks to the Workplace Fairness blog, where I first discovered this book.

Additionally, Diane Levine mentions a study at her Online Guide to Mediation blog, that comes to a similar conclusion about “bad apples”.

Bullies | Harassment | Hostile Work Environment

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Full post as published by California Employee Rights Blog on March 05, 2007 (boomark / email).