“How many passive-aggressive people does it take to change a light bulb? Oops. I can’t believe I broke the last one. I guess you’ll have to sit in the dark.”
Even if you never heard this one before, you probably know a few people who passively resist fulfilling routine tasks and complain of being misunderstood and under-appreciated. They unreasonably scorn authority and voice exaggerated complaints of personal misfortune.
Clinically defined, passive-aggressive behaviour is the expression of negative feelings, resentment, and aggression in an unassertive, passive way (such as through procrastination and stubbornness). They are amongst the most challenging of difficult people and their damaging behaviour can affect your workplace and bottom line.
Does your organisation officially recognise and handle passive-aggressive behaviour?
A recent article in HR Magazine by Signe Whitson, sheds light on how to deal with and keep in check those who (you know who they are) routinely miss deadlines, and negatively impact productivity and workplace morale.
Refuse to be a victim of this behaviour
We all have stories about the annoying, sometimes conniving ways of a family member, friend or co-worker. While irritating, passive-aggressive behaviour usually isn’t costly. Except that in many workplace situations, passive-aggressive employees can sabotage deadlines, morale and productivity. That’s why it’s critical for leadership and managers to recognise passive aggression before it affects workplace efficiency.
Recognising passive aggression
“I think I know, but I’m not quite sure.” Passive-aggressive people usually lack assertiveness and are not direct with supervisors about their needs. They fail to ask questions about what is expected of them and may become anxious under pressure. Passive aggression is a deliberate and masked way of expressing hidden anger. In the workplace, passive-aggressive behaviour can manifest itself in one or more of the following ways:
Temporary Compliance
The passive-aggressive employee often feels under-appreciated and expresses his underlying anger through temporary compliance. Though he verbally agrees to do a task, he delays completion by procrastinating, forgetting deadlines, misplacing documents or arriving late. For the passive-aggressive worker who feels under-acknowledged, temporary compliance is satisfying.
Intentional Inefficiency
The passive-aggressive worker finds it more important to express covert hostility than to maintain an appearance of professional competence, using intentional inefficiency to complete work in a purposefully unacceptable way.
For example, Marjorie felt snubbed when she was passed over for a promotion. She decided to go about her job in a new way; the quantity of her work did not change, but it became marred with omissions and errors. Though Marjorie never missed a deadline and took on every requested assignment, the quality of her work had a way of creating embarrassment for the unsuspecting supervisor caught presenting misinformation.
To protect against saboteurs, look out for employees whose work is consistently at or below minimum standards, who insist “no one told me,” and who personalise confrontations by authorities, playing up their roles as victims.
Letting a Problem Escalate
Teamwork and communication are vital to productivity. When a passive-aggressive employee withholds information or deliberately fails to stop a glitch from turning into an irreversible gaffe, operations can halt. Misuse of sick days may help identify a passive-aggressive employee.
In another example, Alan called in sick the day before a deadline, knowing that his presence was critical. He took pleasure in single-handedly foiling completion of the quarterly report and in the resulting companywide affirmation that without him, the department could not progress. Sabotage is the name of the game for the passive-aggressive employee who justifies his crimes of omission by saying, “I didn’t do anything.”
Hidden but Conscious Revenge
In contrast to the inaction that marks the previous tactic, some employees use covert actions to get revenge on supervisors. The passive-aggressive employee is aware that the person he is angry with has enough power to make his life miserable, so he decides it is not safe to confront him directly. Whether by spreading gossip that maligns the boss’s reputation or misplacing a document, the passive-aggressive employee finds justification in secret revenge.
Tell-Tale Signs
Do any of your employees have these passive-aggressive credentials?
Work history:
- Avoids responsibility for tasks
- Performs less when asked for more
- Misses deadlines
- Withholds information
Professional activities:
- Leaves notes and uses email to avoid face to face communication
- Arrives late for work and extends lunch breaks
- Uses sick days during major team projects
- Resists suggestions for change or improvement
Special qualifications:
- “Forgets” and “misplaces” important documents
- Embarrasses co-workers during meetings and presentations
- Justifies behaviour with plausible explanations
- Consistently behaves this way
Damaging behaviour
By the nature of their covert acts, passive-aggressive employees are skilled at evading the long arm of workplace law. Unchecked, a compliant rule breaker can have a major effect on productivity and morale. When managers understand the signs and recognise patterns, they can protect themselves and other employees from being unwitting victims of this office crime.
And what about the passive-aggressive boss? They too are a workplace annoyance and can force many good people to leave their jobs in order to preserve their sanity and self-respect. As blues legend BB King says, you don’t want to be ‘paying the cost to be the boss.’
