Should you cut a difficult employee loose? You can skip reading this and I will give you the answer now: YES.

If you are weighing the pros and cons of of keeping a difficult employee cut them loose right now. Don’t wait another day. I know managing a difficult employee is hard, but we make it much harder than needed when we wring our hands debating what to do.

It’s not as gray as it seems

I know this can feel like a more difficult decision than it actually is. It seems to live in a gray area, but actually doesn’t. I think the decision to keep difficult employees is pretty black and white.

When an employee doesn’t live up to expectations and is also a difficult employee, the decision is obvious. You end up parting ways with those employees quickly. However, the murky area of managing a top performer who is also difficult can leave you agonizing over what to do.

“And the unfortunate thing is, most managers get held hostage to these folks, spending a disproportionate amount of time, thought, and emotional energy on them. Often hovering on the verge of letting them go for years, but never quite being able (for a variety of reasons) to pull the trigger.” Erika Andersen

Say no to drama, disruption, and distraction in the workplace

I don’t mind managing challenging people—often, the most brilliant, engaged people are the most challenging to work with. But I do mind team members who constantly cause drama, disruption, or distraction in the workplace. That’s just not OK, and it’s not fair to everyone else. To me, a difficult employee is someone who has one or more of these characteristics:

• Requires more energy to manage (for whatever reason) than is commensurate with their overall contributions.
• Detracts and distracts from day-to-day operations and reaching company goals with their ‘difficult-ness’.
• Stirs the pot with their co-workers with barbs, drama, or disproportionate negativity.
• It mean to others.

When I say “difficult” what I guess I really mean is “toxic”. An employee who, according to Harvard Business Review, “ …spread(s) their behavior to others… a pattern of de-energizing, frustrating or putting down teammates.”

People like this are just flat-out distracting… and a drag on your team.

You can’t create a utopia where every employee loves each other and is perfect, where everyone wants to be best friends, and no one ever rubs people the wrong way. But that doesn’t mean you have to tolerate difficult, toxic behavior that brings everyone down.

You already know what to do

If you are questioning whether or not to keep a difficult employee, the answer is already in front of you. I have agonized over whether or not to keep people for months and years. And every time I kept a difficult employee for a single day, it was a day too long.

Of course, first attempt to resolve whatever the issue(s) is. Talk with the employee about the behavior and what needs to change. Reward progress in the right direction. Be open and candid about why this is important and what your expectations are. Be specific about what is difficult. Document the problems and resolutions.

But if you aren’t seeing sustained, lasting change, then you need to part ways.

“If a manager has provided direct feedback to an employee and they repeatedly choose not to change their behavior, then you know beyond a doubt that a situation is destructive and unsalvageable.” says Luba Sydor on Zip Recruiter.