I suspect that you have all experienced that tiresome and annoying employee in your team that behaves just like a young puppy. Yes, I said a puppy, and the more you consider the analogy, the more you will recognise their infantile behaviour, together with some of the key, and most welcome behavioural solutions to your problem.
Now, not all new employees behave like puppies, ‘thank god’ I hear you say, but you will unfortunately get at least one in your managerial career. How you handle them in the first instance will either make your work life easy, or hell, and no one wants the latter.
Your ‘Puppy Employee’, let’s call them ‘PE’ for short, can be easily identified should you consider the following observations and act accordingly with immediate effect.
Arrival on Day 1 in the Office: As you walk up to the reception area to collect your new PE they will be walking around with excitement, chatting to anyone that takes notice of them and ploughing their noses into any new reading material, complete with an endless array of questions. Do not offer them any coffee, only water, as they do not require any additional stimulation, but you would be advised to give them a quick tour of the office amenities, particularly the bathroom, as it may be required.
Limit the number of office toys: Most new starters are allocated a workspace, computer, phone and other items such as a mug, drink bottle, USB and suchlike. Once received, the PE will not be able to hide their pleasure as they play with each item in turn exploring all the features.
Boundaries: Once seated momentarily at their workspace, they will be quick to rise as they need to fully explore the areas of their job responsibilities, who they can talk to, work with, and the geographical limitation of the office layout. As the day progresses, you may need to hunt them down as they will most likely be chatting, but more probably disturbing, others in the building.
Little Accidents: Yes, your PE will leave puddles of mess, here, there and everywhere in the office. Your responsibility as their manager is to quickly contain the disorder, and the unwanted impact on their coworkers, and other staff, before a tiresome habit is formed and becomes more difficult to break.
Vaccinations: Your PE may need the be counselled by HR every few weeks of their initial employment with a range of preventative doses to protect themselves, and others they may encounter during their short work tenure.
Probation: Now if all the above fails to correct and modify the PE’s corporate behaviour, you may need to enforce an exit strategy provided to the manager by way of probation. It is a tough decision to make, but your PE may be better off in another more suited work environment.
However, if you heed the advice listed above, there is a high probability that your PE will grow into a welcome addition to your team, one that knows their place, but adds value with their own unique set of skills and temperament.
