The Destructive Power of Toxic Employees with Keith Katz
September 27, 2022
As shop owners, the price we pay for coping with toxic employees is higher than we think. Meet Keith Katz and learn about his story of dealing with a toxic employee for almost a year, which affected his business and health and made him lose several valuable internal customers.
Keith has been part of the automotive industry since 1981 and a shop owner since 1998, when he founded Quality Service Center in York, Pennsylvania.
We delve into why Keith hired this toxic employee in the first place, the time it took him to realize how this person was affecting his business and his health, and the red flags he ignored he most certainly won’t neglect again. Keith depicts some typical toxic behaviors every shop owner should look for, shared examples of how dealing with this person affected him personally and professionally, and the feedback he got after letting the toxic employee go.
Keith also shared a beautiful message about friendship and an excellent example of how important it is to have someone in our corner, especially when we can’t figure out why showing up at our own shop feels like torture.
In this episode, you will learn:
- How did the story of Keith and his toxic employee start (4:28)
- The toxic environment’s first victim. Keith loses a tenured internal customer (5:56)
- How to spot a toxic employee before it is too late (7:39)
- When toxic employees hold an entire organization hostage (12:19)
- Why some shop owners maintain a toxic employee (16:49)
- When we start hating going to work in our own shop (23:42)
- As shop owners, sometimes we have to remember who makes the rules (30:12)
- Sometimes, a friend’s hug is all we need (32:58)
