Five scary characters to exorcise from your team

Halloween is nearly upon us! While many people will choose to visit the cinema to catch a horror film this month, there may be some creepy characters haunting your workplace all the year round.

Inspired by the movies, here’s a few that we have encountered over the years. We’re experienced in dealing with them, so if you are being spooked by such a ghoul in your business and need help, please call us.

The skinwalker

A terrifying piece of Navajo folklore, the skinwalker can shapeshift assuming differing human and animal forms. Created by witchcraft they are bad news for anyone in their sights.

The skinwalker may show up in your business as a remote worker. But there’s more to this than meets the eye; for they are actually working remotely full time for other employers too, appearing in different roles simultaneously and pocketing multiple salaries. 

They know every trick in the book, slacking as often as they can, feigning illness when the demands of one job cannot be met, even applying makeup to appear unwell.

Your defence? Ensure you have explicit clauses in your contract preventing them from other full-time work while employed by you; and operate strong line management, like regular 121s and appropriate levels of supervision.

The scavenger

In post-apocalyptic films, resources are thin on the ground. From squirrel-on-a-stick to mole-rat chunks the survivors will get creative to take on some calories. Anything goes!

The same should not be true for your workplace, but do you have “the scavenger” lurking in your business? More than their fair share of the communal cake being snaffled, pinching the hot water from the kettle that someone else boiled, even stealing a colleague’s lunch!

Don’t let them take the biscuit! Such behaviour left unchecked will damage morale, encourage passive aggressive responses or even outright conflict. Proactive management and a positive company culture will keep those scavengers at bay.

Patient zero

While the Covid pandemic and its lockdowns are thankfully a few years in the past, you may remember that “superspreader” was a buzzword back then. In pandemic horror films there’s always a patient zero from whom the infection spreads.

In your business, it is unlikely that anyone will come in after just being bitten by a monkey or having dropped a test-tube in a secret lab. 

However, presenteeism is a common problem. This is when there’s a culture of attending work, even when they are really unwell and should stay at home for a couple of days. Not only are they unlikely to be productive, working slowly and more prone to mistakes; worse still, they are likely to spread their illness to colleagues amplifying the effect on your business.

There is a fine line to walk between managing absenteeism and presenteeism. But giving staff the confidence to take a day off when they are genuinely unwell will be best for everyone in the long run.

The mummy

We are talking mummies of the ancient Egyptian variety here. They have been around for millennia and are a malevolent presence for all who encounter them. 

While in the movies they are easily spotted as being wrapped in tattered cloth and with glowing eyes, in your business they might be noticed as the person who has been there too long, has grown cynical and is generally a drag on morale. Maybe they disregard instructions thinking they know better, or are resistant to changes that need to be made.

Tread carefully as age is a protected characteristic in equality law, although your “mummy” need not be old – they’ve just been around longer than most. Addressing such behaviour through robust line management is essential. 

If you think their mummified ways can be overcome through cooperation, how about exploring reverse mentoring – where a more junior member of staff mentors a senior?

Heeeere’s HR!

Need help with any of these troublesome tropes in your business? At The HR Dept, it is our superpower to prevent people problems. So just ask if you are living your own Halloween horror!