There is always that one coworker who is always difficult to deal with in the workplace, always rude, borrowing everything, always screaming at people, insulting people, has no manners at all and the list goes on. Small tolerable behavior is fine, but when it is a daily behavior it can become really frustrating especially if they are many coworkers with that behavior in one place. Doriane Usanase, a head of strategy manager in a local farming organisation, says that dealing with difficult co-workers can cause an employer to even quit due to the pressure. “Difficult employees are worse than a difficult boss because these are the people you meet with every day and work with every day, you might meet the boss from time to time. So it can be a really tough thing to be around such people, they drain your energy and destroy your mental health, difficult coworkers can make going to work a difficult thing too,” she says. Usanase continues by saying that although they are difficult to work with it is possible to deal with them and that it is important to deal with them because it enhances conflict skills resolution, “Learning how to deal with difficult coworkers is important because it helps you as an employee learn that you will meet a lot of difficult people and you should know how to deal with them. Learning how to voice your thoughts in dealing with them is something to try out, telling them what upsets you when they do it can actually help you deal with them daily and make them think twice about their behavior,” she says. Bruno Ishimwe, a product manager in a shipping company, says that it is important to know how to deal with difficult coworkers because you need to learn how to deal with such difficult people in the course of your life. “Although difficult coworkers are the worst to work with it is an experience we all need because in the world of jobs we need to learn that there are difficult people and we need to find strategies to deal with them. One strategy of dealing with them is to learn about their perspective, about how they view things, they might think that it is alright to be rude or fine to be lazy, getting to know their perspective is learning also what caused them to be the way they are and it helps you to understand them and deal with them easily,” he says. How to deal with difficult coworkers Susan Nudelman, an American blogger says that learning how to communicate is important. “If you are dealing with a difficult coworker, it may be time to confront the situation. When you decide it is time to speak with your coworker, make sure you use “I” language instead of “you” language so they better understand your perspective. When you use “you” language, it makes it hard for the other person to take responsibility for their actions,” she writes. Nudelman also suggests having boundaries when dealing with difficult people at work, “Assertive people take responsibility for their actions. When they have an incident where those boundaries are crossed by a coworker, they don’t take responsibility for that person’s actions. They have limits in place and will not stand for people taking advantage of them. This person knows to use the “I” vs. “you” statements. Furthermore, difficult coworkers become quickly aware that they can’t push an assertive person to go along with what they want,” she notes. According to Indeed career’s article, another way of dealing with difficult coworkers is to foster relationships with colleagues. “A “relationship” in this context does not necessarily mean friendship or closeness but rather points to a mutual understanding in which members of a team agree upon roles and boundaries in the workplace. If you want to establish a professional relationship with a coworker, it can be beneficial to do so in a systematic way,” the article notes.
