Emotional Outbursts
Question:

 

I'd like your recommendation about how to manage an employee who responds to stress with emotional outbursts, which can be abusive followed by apologies. 

Answer:
  Dealing with emotional issues is always difficult.  You don’t mention if these outbursts are only to you as the manager, or to other employees but the answer is essentially the same.  First and foremost, you (and your staff) need to walk away. Listening to the outbursts is akin to the “enabling” behavior you often see with addiction. And the pattern of abuse and apology is consistent with abusers. As long as you let yourself be the sounding board to these outbursts, the longer they will continue. There can be no exceptions. Once the abuser realizes that his or her audience has disappeared, the outbursts should stop.    

Answer:
  I agree with Cindy in that no one should be expected to listen to the abuse.  But you need to take the issue one step further. Clearly this person needs help. If you have an Employee Assistance Program at your firm, you should strongly recommend that he or she seek help either there or outside the company.  If they refuse, as the manager, you need to start documenting how these outbursts are impacting the performance of both the individual and the rest of your staff.  If the behavior doesn’t improve and performance is negatively impacted, you will have no choice but to let them go.

The information and opinion that Cindy and Laura share on this site does not constitute legal advice. You must not rely on the information on this website as an alternative to legal advice from your attorney or other professional legal services provider.

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