Toxic employees can be a major threat—not just to your team, but to your career, success, and even health.

Most of them manipulate, undermine authority, and poison the work environment.
But some are worse than others.

This guide, based on realpolitik and psychology, exposes their tactics and shows you how to handle them effectively.

Let’s dive in.

1. Narcissistic Rebels

These types of toxic employees cannot stand having a boss.

They reject any type of outside authority, are hypersensitive to power dynamics, and soon come to resent any boss who doesn’t grant them enough freedom.

Psychology Profile

Some rebels had an overbearing parent or a highly demanding parent to whom they are still rebelling.

Accepting dominance hierarchies is a sign of maturity, but rebels are locked into a child role.

And now, even as adults, any outside authority triggers the same parental resistance as in their teenage years.
But today, instead of slaying the overbearing father, they want to slay you.

However, some are simply narcissists who cannot stand the lower status position in the social hierarchy.
They want to be the ones giving orders and calling the shots. They hate you for having authority over them and for having to execute your tasks.

Rebels Make Excuses to Hate You

Rebels hide behind causes and ideals.

They might pose as “social justice warriors”, saying they hate power and bosses because “it’s unfair”, because “they oppress people” or because the boss is “abusive and mean”.

That’s only a front, of course: the truth is that they resent people who have power over them.
They don’t want a good relationship with their bosses, they want power over their bosses.

Watch out for these people: the ones who are good at playing this game can easily sow discontent and potentially turn your whole team into an enemy.

Signs

• Undermine team and work: narcissists who feel ‘constrained’ in lower status role intentionally undermine organizational goals (Penney & Spector, 2002).
• Insubordination and power struggles: With the aggressive types, you will get into power struggles.
• Passive aggression: If they are more of the passive-aggressive types, then you’ll see typical passive-aggressive signs (delayed replies, poor executions, undermining behind your back, etc.).
• Low motivation, no extra mile: narcissists in subordinate roles are less motivated, less willing to engage in extra-role behaviors, and more selfish (Benson, Jordan, & Christie, 2016)

Solutions

First, a reality check:

If too many resent your management, you might be the problem.

Manage not through authority and title, but by example.

That being said, some managers try to overpower rebels.
But that approach doesn’t address the root causes.

Overpowering rebels is tantamount to curing a problem with more of what causes the problem.
They will resent you more, and they will want to destroy you to vindicate the infamy.

What to do then?

If they are poor at what they do, fire them.

If they are good, you must give them “freedom of operation”. 
Make them feel like they are special agents with a “license to act like self-employed people.”.

Yep, that’s the secret to keeping these guys performing problem-free: make them feel like they are self-employed.
Allow them to work from home, come and go on their own time, and, if they perform, remove any need for reporting.
Just let them come to you with the results and the money they earn for your company—that’s what you want in the end, no?

Just Like Investment Bank’s Traders

Investment banks use this approach with alpha-male, aggressive traders (Taleb, 2018).

Banks grant them lots of freedom, as long as they make money.

2. Cynics

Cynics masquerade their envious doom and gloom as realism.

They position themselves as rational, realist types that the rest of your team should better listen to.
And that makes them toxic employees per excellence.

Psychology Profile

There are 3 main types of cynics:

• Defensive cynicism (it’s not that I’m unsuccessful, it’s that everything sucks and I don’t even try)
• Power mover (use cynicism to discredit others)
• Former idealists

Former idealists change tack when they hit life difficulties and realize that the company, the state, the people or whatever it is they were duped to believe in, weren’t there to support them.

Hurt and disappointed, they swing in the opposite direction.

Cynics Misunderstand The Power Moves

Cynics love articles such as “corporate lies”, Machiavellian principles, and “how politicians manipulate the masses“.

But he fails to see that social exchanges can be win-win and that it’s up to them to make sure they are (see “enlightened collaborator“).

In short, he fails to go from “poisoned by cynicism” to “empowered by cynicism” and reach the “positive cynic” stage.
See more here:

High-Achieving Cynics

Here’s the kicker:

Most executives and top performers are positively cynic.

The positive cynic is a different breed.
Not swayed by corporate BS, he focuses on giving because he obeys the cardinal rule of effective cynicism: the more I give, the more I can ask.

And, contrary to Pollyanna operators who apply misguided advice of “giving without asking“, they are very assertive in demanding their share of the pie.

And they are right!
It’s better to assertively ask for what’s fair, than waiting and hoping the man will be nice enough to give.

Solutions

Appeal to their practical side with bonuses, and appeal to their own goals.
For example, reputation, legacy, efficiency, record-low turnover, etc.

If they’re average of below-average performers and you need a motivated team, move them to more isolated posts, or fire them.

3. Homo Economicus

What you wrote on the contract, you get.

Don’t expect extra work, extra effort, or special allegiance.
With him, you get what you pay for -literally-.

Psychology Profile

Sometimes the homo economicus is driven by fear.

He is afraid that if he does more and doesn’t get more, then he is the ‘sucker’.

But more often the homo economicus is your average Joe.
He’s gotten his degree with average grades to live a simple life with a mortgage, a car, and an average lady on his side.

He pays his health insurance, his pension plan and he trusts the system to take care of him if things go south.

That’s it.
He’s not bad… He’s just an average fella.

Toxicity Impact

The homo economicus is toxic for top-performing teams.

Why?

Because they will form a clique with other homo economicus, slackers, and cynics.

That stand in stark contrast to the top performers and the extra-milers.

As the two groups grow apart, some of the extra-mile employees will start thinking “why work hard if these slackers will be reaping the same rewards”?
And, like in any public good game, the givers will stop giving.

That’s how average Joes harm team performance.

If you need excellence, you don’t the Homo Economicus

4. Vulnerable Narcissists

The worst ones have the thinnest skin:

You need to tiptoe and power-protect to the extreme to avoid hurting them.

Psychology Profile

They’re narcissists and fixed mindset people.

They interpret negative feedback on their work as you telling them they are bad and unworthy.
Everything is personal with them.

And that’s why they can’t stomach reality: reality is often harsh.
And those you don’t want those labels in an HR formal complaint.

The Vindictive Paranoid

They might fake a stoic face, but in reality, they hurt and they never forget.
And they swear that they will make you pay.

They never communicate directly and honestly and they stew in their resentment for you.

The dumbest and most spiteful of them will sue you even if they have nothing on you -contrary to the Machiavellian players outlined below-.

Solutions

If you’re in a big sprawling corporation, you can’t avoid them.

If you are the more aggressive managerial type, learn some tactful communication.
These books on communication skills and “Thanks for The Feedback” will help you.

And you can turn them into allies.
Their fragile ego goes both ways: they get hurt easily, but also get hooked easily on emotional rewards.

5. Shirkers

They are busy with mysterious projects, take long to finish tasks, and generally try to do as little as possible to get by.

Oh, and they also take long lunches and often get sick. 

Psychology Profile

There are several types of shirkers:

• Entitled shirkers: victims of entitlement mentality, such as the belief that they are due stuff without having to put in the work
• Nurtured shirkers: grew up with helicopter parents who gave everything (except good parenting)
• Lazy shirkers: apathetic to work and life, they just don’t see the point and their biggest ambition is Netflix and pizza

Finally, there are the socially clueless shirkers.
They overlap with entitled and nurtured and don’t see or understand that healthy relationships entail an exchange.

How it Feels Managing Shirkers

Some shirkers are professionals in looking busy.

They like being in multiple projects to hide their real workload.
And they can always refer to “that other project they’re working on”.

But the most toxic shirkers use irascibility under this principle: if they make it difficult for people to approach and deal with them, nobody will ever give them work.

Milton in “Office Space” is an example:

Toxicity Impact

Free-riders aren’t just toxic in companies and teams: free-riders are toxic to societies.

The issue is that free riders, as James Surowiecki notes, “poison” the whole system.
Employees who would go the extra mile in a fair contribution system stop giving when free riders show up.

And that’s why free riders are devastatingly toxic: they trigger vicious circles of apathy, demotivation, and disinvestment.

Solution

The number of free riders varies widely depending on whether or not punishment is introduced in the exchanges (Fehr and Gächter, 2000).

So punish shirkers and free riders with lower salaries, lower bonuses, and no promotions.

6. Power Seekers

Power Seekers have huge ambitions.

That ambition includes taking your place or, even better, jumping straight above you.

They are dangerous for managers because if moving up means destroying you in the process, they will happily do so.

Psychology Profiles

The poor ones will make it obvious through dominance that they plan on replacing you.

And the good ones are Machiavellian and manipulative to the core.

They pretend to be all about “doing a great job” and “learning from you”. And they’ll even build you up in the process.

Solutions

If it’s your company, you can use them.

Unless they’re pure sociopaths, you align interests so that their selfish interest also adds value.
Just be extremely careful though: the most toxic types focus more on politics and rival elimination than on actual results.

If it’s not your company and you don’t have great ambitions, don’t cross them and let them free to walk their power path: that way you won’t get hurt.

And if you want to compete with them, then make sure they learn nothing from you and get ready to rumble.

7. Suck-Up Players

Suck-up players flatter you and support you.

But it doesn’t come for free: they do it because they want you to like them, protect them, and, crucially, to play favorites with them.

Psychology Profile

We talked about Suck-up players in office politics players as well.

Suck-up players can brown-nose for different reasons, ranging from admiration to love to power infatuation.

True suck-up players are not very ambitious.
Seeking power by reflection and brown-nosing indeed are defensive games, low-status behavior, and inherently submissive.

Just like children unconsciously seek their parents’ goodwill, suck-up players seek political safety.

Toxicity Analysis

They are toxic for two reasons:

1. The team might think you two are in cahoots
2. It turns the team political and lowers morale and efficiency

Finally, if you’re not attentive enough, they might even manage to get too close and win your favors.
You want to avoid that at all costs or you’ll come across as weak and easy to manipulate.

Remember this golden rule of management:

The closer you grow to one, the farthest you push the rest

8. The Predators

They look for ways to take as much as possible.

Often high in psychopathy, they rarely stop at moral and ethical considerations. 
And they even rarely stop at lawful boundaries -unless they can leverage the law to screw you over, that is-

Psychology Analysis

They have no moral standards, are cynics, and sometimes are sociopaths and psychopaths.

If they do have internal morals, some of them will manipulate themselves first and foremost.
They will twist the story in their mind and paint you as the evil boss they must destroy -and yeah, they are the Robin Hood of that story of course-.

The lowest quality overlaps with the shirkers.
They’re the kind of toxic employees who are mentally deranged enough to voluntarily hurt themselves just to get insurance money.

The most Machiavellian of them instead connive and conspire to enact more elaborate frauds.
For example, they will read corporate laws and record your infractions just so that one day they can sue you and your company.

American Beauty has an example of a predatory toxic employee:

Manager: Management wants you gone by the end of the day.
Employee: Well, just what sort of severance package is management prepared to offer me? Considering the information I have about our Editorial Director buying pu**y with company money – which, I think, would interest the I.R.S., since it technically constitutes fraud (…) Not to mention.. (grins) Craig’s wife!
Manager: What do you want?
Employee: One year’s salary, with benefits.
Manager: That’s not going to happen.
Employee: Well, what do you say I throw in a little sexual harassment charge, to boot?
Manager: [chuckles in disbelief] Against who?
Employee: [he chuckles right back] Against YOU. Can you prove that you didn’t offer to save my job if I let you blow me?
Manager: Man, you are one twisted f*ck

Begin with the end in mind: imagine that your worst employees will act like that. Record all conversations, and have the best lawyers… And be prepared for that type of (legal) showdown.

Solutions

• Keep vulnerabilities and vices to yourself, never allow coworkers to have ‘dirt’ on you
• Fire strategically
  • Have someone else do it
  • Pretend you’re ‘forced to’ by circumstances
  • Pretend it was a board/collective decision
• Power protect when firing
  • It’s about investors/business needs, not personal
  • It’s about unlucky circumstances, not his character/performance
• Make him feel he has a brighter future ahead <— So he will not fight to stay
• Trap him
  • Give him freedom to spend company money, he’ll misuse it
  • Hire an attractive double agent as his assistant

Reading people and prevention at an individual level also helps.

Look for signs of antisocial-disorder personalities, examine past employment history -often dotted by very brief stints- and check references.

Why You Must Ignore Popular Advice

Top results come from big publishers.

In the case of workplace topics, that’s often Forbes, Business Insider, or Harvard Business Review.

While HBR often has great content, many of the rest… Not always.

This is the first result when typing “how to deal with difficult employees”:

This catch-all advice is rarely effective, often useless, and, sometimes, counterproductive.
Here are just a few reasons why it’s wrong:

1. Listen: listening to suck-up players sub-communicates that want to get closer. You need to send the opposite message
2. Feedback: giving feedback to rebels and vulnerable narcissists will only make them hate you more
3. Walk through the company process: vindictive and predatory employees will only take it to mean they must get ready for war. Much better to pretend all is good until you fire them out of the blue

Big publications are also forced to produce plain vanilla content that fits our zeitgeist of political correctness.
And that’s not going to cut it when you need effective, real-life advice.

We teach how to read people, spot red flags, and avoid toxic employees in Power University