151 Quick Ideas to Deal With Difficult People

69By the Way, “This Is Your Job”

One of the most damning statements an employee could utter is “It’s not my job.” That’s an employee who is totally disengaged from a company. People who take that stance won’t go out of their way to answer a phone or help a customer. They’re too busy deciding what they won’t do.

One way to head off such productivity-killing declarations is to make sure you give employees a written description of their jobs. Conscientious employees will always pitch in. But for less cooperative types, you need to spell out what you need from them. If you need employees who aren’t clerks to occasionally answer the phone, put that in the description. If you need them to stay a few minutes longer on some days to help take care of ...