Assume that you have an employee who is extremely efficient but who is continually complaining about the work assigned. You have noticed that the complaints have a bad effect on the other employees. It would usually be best to:

• A. have a talk with the other employees and ask them to overlook the faults because of efficiency
• B. have a confidential talk with the employee and try to effect a change of attitude
• C. ask to have the employee transferred
• D. give him additional work to do leaving no time to complain

Answer: (B)

When a high-performing employee also begins to complain in a way that drags down the team, the effective move is to address the attitude directly in a private, confidential conversation. This lets you acknowledge the employee’s valuable productivity while clearly communicating that persistent negativity is not acceptable and must change. In the talk, describe what you’ve seen, explain the impact on coworkers, and invite the employee to share any concerns or underlying reasons for the grumbling. Then work together to set clear expectations for communication and behavior, explore possible causes, and outline a plan or support that could help improve the attitude, with a follow-up to monitor progress. This approach preserves performance, maintains morale, and demonstrates respectful leadership.

Publicly asking others to overlook faults undermines accountability, transferring the issue elsewhere without solving it. Transferring the employee avoids the problem but doesn’t address the attitude or its effect on the team. Simply giving more work to drown out the complaints treats the symptom rather than the cause and can worsen motivation.