Employee Entitlement – Why the world doesn’t owe you a living

In today’s workplace, there is a myth among some workers that the world (and their employer) owes them a living.

Another stereotype is that younger people feel more entitled in the workplace than their older counterparts.

In fact, the opposite may be true, with recent research indicating that seniority can also lead to a sense of entitlement.

A good example is the older employee who feels he or she has earned the right to work less and get paid more.

Entitlement can be a major issue in the workplace for many reasons – and keeping on top of it is crucial to business success.

Some helpful ways to do this include:

1. Identifying the source of the problem

This encourages the resolving of miscommunication, for example, a good supervisor will open up the conversation to find out exactly what is behind their employee’s sense of entitlement

2. Let the employee know they are being entitled

Your approach to an entitled employee can mean the difference between things getting better or degenerating. Thus, the discussion should always be positive, and you should always encourage the employee to recognise the problem and take positive steps to make a change

3. Monitor changes in behaviour

Documenting any exchanges with an entitled employee is crucial. One way is to link employee entitlement to job performance, potential pay rises, or performance evaluation; in order to encourage the entitled employee to become more motivated and change their behaviour

4. Encourage a strong team attitude and company culture 

Many entitled employees forget they are part of a team – and how much their actions and attitude can affect their co-workers. To help improve teamwork, assign a motivated staff member to assist in projects requiring collaboration

5. Maintain a strong ethnic and gender diverse staff

This is especially important for male-dominated fields such as IT because of its ‘boys’ club’ culture. It can also be difficult to build trust, loyalty or a unified team without female employees.

By Mike Peeters