Trusting your intuition can be difficult, in the three instances where I've encountered employees like that, it turned out to be justified, and I wish I would’ve followed my intuition.
Sometimes you feel like you need the help, so you would rather “deal with it” then make a change and take on all the extra work yourself.
Hired as my assistant by a corporation, she had a remarkable work ethic. She understood every project I was working on, and could give me intricate details on each project at any time throughout the day. We became extremely efficient!
So, what was wrong? She was rude. When I asked her questions she was abrupt, but I dismissed it because I was getting so much work done.
She mostly kept to herself in the office, and never got involved in office politics. She worked hard.
One day, a client dropped off some items, and my colleague mentioned she would meet with them to review what they brought. She then said “They brang in items yesterday, and I told them that wouldn’t work.” I said, “You mean brought.” She insisted that she was right, saying,”No. I mean brang.” I am her supervisor and I just let her speak to me that way. Why? I was frustrated with myself. I knew I could coach her on it, but I didn't.
Accompanying her to meet the clients, I noticed she treated them exactly like she treated me. Why was I surprised?
That day, I knew I had to let her go.The incident I described was just one of several, and it prompted me to become a different type of person. I was afraid of having to do it all, instead of understanding that there are many great people out there who are very kind.
I released her in a professional manner as I have done in the past. She mentioned she was waitressing and earning more in two days there than she did here in a whole week.
That day, I made calls to my clients, referral sources and vendors. I almost fell over when each and everyone of them told me that they stopped sending their business to me because of her! Now that she was gone, they agreed to send more business.
Overnight my business grew by 40%! If you are leading in fear, stop today and make a change. There are numerous talented individuals out there, and settling for someone you're merely "dealing" with to avoid the process of finding someone new is unnecessary.