Beware The 2%ers Costing Your Business: New Book Reveals How To Handle The Rule Breakers

In every workplace, there is a small number of people that defy the norms, break the rules and wreak havoc complaining, whingeing and just being difficult. 

Human resources expert Di Armbrust’s new book The 2% Effect – Removing Complexity and Managing for High Performance shows businesses how they can be more productive and profitable by tapping into four principles to ensure this small number of people do not significantly damage their business.

“We are all in business to make a profit and generally our employees get that but when you find people on your team that do not align with your values, you get that 2% who make your working life difficult and impact your profitability,” Mrs Armbrust said.

“Typically, managers have difficulty in dealing with these people – sometimes it is because of union involvement or having to deal with the complex employment laws, for others it is just the struggle of having to deal with the person. These people need to be managed because of the effect they have on the business and the other 98% of people in that business.”

Mrs Armbrust draws from decades of experience of working on the frontlines of human resource management and her book is filled with examples that show a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach does not work. It also draws on her broad business experience to offer other principles that also improve business performance.

“Understanding 98% of your team are always going to do the right thing and there is a efficient process to either bring the 2% back into the fold or to help them take another path with another employer is an important principle for managers to understand,” Mrs Armbrust said. The application of this principle can unlock enormous capacity in an organisation.

“Every workplace has 2%ers – the high maintenance ones who stand out because they make sure everyone knows what is wrong with the world.

“These are the grumblers who do not follow instructions, the complainers who spend hours in the staff room telling everyone what should be fixed. They leave early, come in late or have poor attendance for the wrong reasons. They are breaking the written and unwritten ground rules of business norms.”

Mrs Armbrust said these are high risk employees and can do incredible damage to a business. “Not managing these people is risky and can cost the business lots of money especially in legal fees,” she said.

“We need to consider the effect of these people on the business and the other 98% of people working in that business. This book is all about putting the human back into human resources.”

“Collaborating with my colleague Mark Shaw, I’ve written this book because there is a better way to manage people and to still achieve business goals. This book will help people understand the people risk to your business, where businesses have low people risk and how to leverage these low-risk people to improve profitability.”

The book will be launched on November 10 at Hotel Urban in the Valley from 6.30pm.

With guest speaker Richard Champion or 'Champs', former Brisbane Lions player and an ambassador for AFL Queensland and Justin Coomber, former Channel 10 Brisbane’s news chief-of-staff as the MC for the evening.