What to Do When an Employee Makes a Mistake

We’re all human – so blunders, errors, and slip-ups will happen. But, as one of the leading staffing firms in South Florida, Future Force knows when they happen on the job – and impact sales, productivity and customer relations – they can be a tougher pill to swallow. How can you successfully deal with an employee’s mistake and ensure it doesn’t happen again? Follow these tips:

Don’t yell, get angry or be passive aggressive.

It’s frustrating when an employee makes a mistake. That’s certainly understandable. However, taking your anger out on the employee is not the best way to deal with it. They’ll simply shut down or switch into defensive mode. Plus, when other employees see how you react, they’ll be less likely to own up to mistakes going forward. So if you need to, walk away for a while and come back to deal with the situation once you’ve cooled down.

Find out what went wrong.

If your employee is typically a consistent performer – and not prone to mistakes – then it’s probably not due to laziness or a lack of caring. But it’s still up to you to find out where things went wrong so the mistake doesn’t happen again in the future. So schedule some time to talk with your employee about what happened. For instance, did they feel rushed to get an order out the door? Or were they simply having an off day?

Identify action to take.

Once you know what happened, you can stake steps to rectify the situation. For instance, if a mistake was made due to a lack of understanding, perhaps that employee needs more training. If it was due to carelessness, then you might need to institute certain policies so multiple employees sign off on orders. Whatever the case, this is a wakeup call that something needs to change in order to ensure mistakes don’t happen again going forward.

Look at the big picture.

If you’re noticing an employee is making a lot of mistakes and a pattern is emerging, then you need to determine the cause. Are they stretched too thin or do they have unreasonable deadlines? Then it’s going to lead to more mistakes and burnout. If, however, it’s simply due to apathy and a lack of concern for performing high quality work, then it might be time to consider whether they’re the right fit for the team going forward.

Strong teams require top-notch skills and talent. If yours has some gaps in it, Future Force can help. As one of the leading staffing firms in South Florida, we’ve been providing local employers with fast access to the area’s top talent. So if you’re ready for some professional help staffing your team, give Future Force a call.