Selecting the right staff the business can be quite a task depending on the complexities of the business and what the business provides.

Recruitment agencies put a lot of effort into shortlisting candidates that most closely meet the criteria the business has mapped out, sifting through the candidate list that can at times be quite large.

Making sure that the skillset matches the needs of the role is paramount when shortlisting the right candidates, including any additional skills the candidate might have that could be beneficial in the available role. 

Further reference checking will hopefully give some indication of the intangible characteristics of the prospective candidate and when the candidate is initially employed there is generally some trial or probationary period to allow for employee assessment.

The 90 day trial period in the NZ Employment Act has changed in the last few years and is only able to be applied by business entities with under twenty employees. When an employee isn’t authentic to their application, the employer may use the 90 day trial period to bring the employment of the new employee to an end. 

Most new employees that are employed under the 90 day trial period are well aware of the trial period conditions and tend to abide by the expectations of their employment agreement during that period of time whether they are authentic, or not. 

Once the trial period has ended the new employee tends to relax a bit and start to exhibit their natural character, which in many cases is the same set of characteristics as the employer thought they were employing, yet this is not always the case.

Unfortunately, if the new employee is found not to be beneficial for the business, there is quite a process to correct the situation and it only takes one individual to cause significant damage to a business whether they are senior management or unskilled labour, as divisive or incompetent employees can cause significant damage to a business even at the lowest level of the business skillset. 

It only needs one employee to be disruptive to adversely affect the morale and culture of an entire business, simply through frequent adverse rumours or comments of insinuation against others in the business, or just being incompetent in their performance.

Disruption within the business can be caused by the bullish behaviour of a management employee toward other employees or front line employees being bullish toward their work colleagues.

Employees deliberately not performing a function well or simply being incompetent employees may cause disruption through ineffective task outcomes and the heightened frustration of other staff.

A disruptive employee that deliberately acts in a manner that is damaging to the business or other staff is not always easy to detect, as this type of employee can pride themselves on not being caught. They will use a selection of mechanisms to deceive others and not be found as the perpetrator of the adverse events. 

Disruption can occur in any business at any time through many different employee types, and when disruption occurs, taking steps to eliminate the disruption with some urgency is important for the continued success of the business. 

As with many items of fruit, once the rot begins to work its way through the fruit, it will continue until the entire item of fruit is rotten, unless the rot is removed in a timely manner to save the rest of the fruit. Disruption in a business isn’t that much different to the example of rot in fruit, as the sooner the disruption has been resolved, the less the disruption will damage the business. If the disruption is left unchecked for a significant period of time, rectifying the fallout from the disruption may prove to be quite difficult.

Many business owners and leaders find that identifying the cause of internal disruption and further eliminating the disruption is quite a difficult task, as the business owners don’t want to be seen as ogres or harsh disciplinarians. Many business owners will contract a third party business consultant to perform such tasks as when the disruption has been resolved, the business owner will continue to manage the business with their good credibility retained and various employee relationships still intact.

If you would like any further Business Consulting information or support in the understanding of the documenting a Business Plan, or you seek support in working through how to “Having the right team for the business” please contact us through www.activebss.co.nz/contact  or noel@activebss.co.nz