My Employee Has a Bad Attitude… for a Good Reason

Inc.com columnist Alison Green answers questions about workplace and management issues—everything from how to deal with a micromanaging boss to how to talk to someone on your team about body odor.

Here’s a roundup of answers to three questions from readers.

1. My employee has a terrible attitude… for a good reason

I manage an employee who, to put it frankly, has a bad attitude. Negative about everything: our job, our clients, life in general. A constant rain cloud. He brings down morale quite a bit, and other employees have made comments to me about how hard it is to work with him.

Where I struggle is that I have a lot of sympathy for him and the many health problems he has been facing the last few years. He was in a car accident from which he sustained pretty big injuries, was diagnosed with a chronic disease that causes him constant pain and also has had to deal with the sudden loss of a sibling. I feel like I would kind of hate the world, too. How do I address this without adding yet another blow to his mood?

Please select this link to read the complete article from Inc.