How to Manage a Toxic Employee You Can’t Fire at Your Repair Shop

The struggle is real.

As a business owner, you dread this moment—managing a toxic employee you can’t fire.

The reason? They fix cell phones, and computers quickly and efficiently. They know the process better than everyone else at your workplace. But their toxic attitude drags the whole team down.

Every time, you’ve thought about firing them, but they’re the one employee you rely on to keep your business running. So, it feels like you are stuck and unable to find any possible solution.

However, the truth is; you’re not. Let us discuss how to deal with difficult employees, specifically when firing them is not a suitable option for you.

Understand Why They’re Toxic

Attitude and behaviors matter from person to person. Some are calm and understanding while others are short-tampered and want all the attention. So, if you find the behavior of one of your technicians toxic, it’s not about you or the business. It’s about them.

Maybe they are unhappy in their role. Or maybe they feel overworked or unappreciated. In addition, signs of a toxic employee often include mockery, bullying, negativity, gossip, and refusing to help others.

To understand why they have toxic employee traits, firstly, you need to ask yourself—what’s toxic about them? Maybe they act toxic because they are burned out? Or maybe they are stressed due to the workload, or they feel they are not paid enough. Before labelling someone, try to identify the root cause of their behavior.

Secondly, when you get it, look for the possible solutions. There’s nothing better than helping them or solving their issues, only if it’s easy for you. After all, they are the one talented guy you don’t want to lose. If the issue is salary and performance bonuses, look at what you can do. For instance, if you can afford, give them a salary raise. If you are unable to solve it, and extract the positivity out of them, you may let them go for the best interest of everyone.

Have a One-On-One Conversation

When you feel an employee being super toxic, you should not avoid this because you are afraid to lose them. Instead, you need a one-on-one conversation—no calls or messages. Set a meeting, stay calm, and ask straight-up why you’ve been acting differently.

Neither do you need to sugarcoat, nor do you have to say yes to all their demands. Rather, get to the heart of it. When you do this, you may be surprised as most toxic employees were once great workers. Then, something changed. They are feeling stuck, and burned out, or underpaid. And if they’re just being plain rude or careless. That will show up too.

Don’t Be Afraid to Set Boundaries

Setting boundaries for your employees can help you a lot. After the talk, set clear boundaries. Be specific about what needs to change. For instance, you can ask all your employees, technicians and staff members

• No more gossiping and bullying
• Help other techs without complaining.
• Don’t spread hatred about the management
• Don’t complain, if you don’t want to stay, leave

Make it clear that this behavior must stop now. As toxic employees often test limits, they behave badly because you allowed them to act that way. So, they pushed harder. When you set your limits, and stick to them, there are high chances they will understand that you will not tolerate them anymore.

In addition, track their performance, to see who’s doing what, and how often. This is where employee management software comes in. Using this, you can set employee sales targets and analyze their performance. This will help to let you know which employees need training and which ones are skipping the necessary steps.

Create an Action Plan to Manage a Toxic Employee

After you have talked, and set boundaries, now it’s the time to create a clear action plan for the employees at your repair shop. Set a timeframe and let them know you’re not just hoping they will change—you’re watching.

When they note you’re serious, and consider letting them go, two things happen:

• They improve
• Or they realize it’s time to move on

Either way, you win.

Preparing a Backup

In any business, having a backup is a must. As a repair shop owner, you should also be ready all the time for even the worst scenarios. In this case, your fear is you don’t want to go to a point where you must fire a talented employee due to his toxic behavior. The best thing you can do in this regard is to prepare a backup.

Look for an experienced technician who can handle all the repairs efficiently and is highly professional. If they have the skills and right attitude, hire them, even if they ask for a higher salary. After all, this would be an investment for your repair business that will help you in the near future.

To build a culture of good employee management, no matter how much tech you have, your new hire should be finalized only if they have the skills for the job and can fit into your repair shop’s work culture.

Don’t wait until things explode. Hire someone who is open to criticism, and eager to learn. When the toxic behavior resurfaces, you won’t be held hostage. You’ll have options. We understand that it’s hard to prepare a backup and train someone. But you need to keep your business afloat while one employee poisons your shop’s vibe.

Give yourself that freedom.

Lead from the Front

When a toxic employee sees you’re scared to act, they’ll create more trouble and walk all over you. As a business owner, you are already managing a number of things and operations and can’t take this stress as well. So, when this happens, you need to act like a leader. For that, you can take on some of the repair load if needed.

Automation tools like RepairDesk allow you to set and manage user roles and permissions. Thus, you can control exactly what each user can access. Along with that, you must speak with the rest of your team. Let them know what’s going on (without bad-mouthing anyone). When they see your strength, it builds trust.

We got it. You built this shop, and this employee helped you grow, but no one is irreplaceable. Businesses survive transitions. Therefore, if someone’s helping you make money but costing you peace, they’re too expensive to keep forever. No skill is worth a toxic attitude.

Don’t Let Loyalty Blind You

Just because someone’s been around doesn’t mean they deserve to stay at your repair shop. If you think they are loyal to your business, you might be wrong. Because loyalty is a two-way street. If they’ve stopped caring, you cannot ignore that.

This is why your repair shop needs an employee handbook. It will help you keep all your employees and technicians on the same path and educate them on their rights and benefits. So, they won’t set unrealistic expectations and would know their good work will be appreciated and bad work will be criticized.

Remember, you’re not running a charity but competing in a tough industry. If any of your team members gets toxic, their time is up—whether now or soon.

Final Words

Letting a toxic employee run your shop for too long is not right. You can still progress—but not for long. You don’t have to fire them immediately but start acting like the boss. Have the talk, make the plan, and prepare a backup. And if you need a smarter way to run things, track the performance of your employees and manage the admin work efficiently, RepairDesk is the smart tool you need. Its reporting and repair ticket management helps you keep an eye on sales generated by each employee and manage repairs effectively.

The health of your shop, your peace of mind, and your team’s future depend on it. You can fix devices. Now, it’s time to fix your team.