When employees do weird or inappropriate things outside work, often that has no impact in the workplace and therefore it’s no business of the employer. However, when two employees get into a physical fight outside work, leaving one of the employees not willing to work with the other, you have to deal with this situation. If you have a workplace that is large enough to handle a transfer, then you may be off the hook. In preparation for the transfer, you might want to explain to the employee that you’re only going to do this once, so if this employee was the cause of the problem, they better change their behaviour. However, if you don’t have this luxury of abiding a transfer, you’re going to have to talk to the two employees and explain that they have to work things out. Maybe they will become friends again, or maybe they won’t, but work has to go on. Let’s assume your conversation doesn’t include a transfer.
TRY THIS:
Explain that you don’t have the luxury of a transfer, so unless one of them is going to quit work – which you don’t want – then the three of you have to find a way to work things out. Normally you don’t want to babysit grown adults, but your assistance in the process might just keep both employees and then you don’t have to spend valuable time finding a new employee.
HOW ABOUT:
“If I could transfer one of you, I would, but I can’t. Normally I’m not interested in what you get up to outside work as long as it doesn’t have a negative impact back in this workplace. However, your brawl outside work is now impacting work here because one of you refuses to work with the other. Both of you are good employees and I want to keep both of you. But if one of you won’t work with the other, then you’ll have to quit…and nobody wants that. Let’s talk about this rationally. A physical fight may be something you can’t forgive, but perhaps you can…that’s up to you to decide. And if you don’t want to be friends any longer, again, that’s your choice. But I’d like us to find a way that you can work together. Let’s sit down right now and discuss this…”
Stephen Hammond, B.A., J.D., CSP
If you have any questions, please contact Stephen
