Wouldn't you be surprised if the employee that you thought was a good catch turned out to be someone who's not able to fulfill his potential? Instead of being an asset, he is turning out as a liability to your operations.
These are tough times and holding a job is imperative for the working classes. So, if you see that there are good qualities in him that can be nurtured, you need to search for ways by which you can help him do better.
If you will consider the following recommendation, you might still be able to avert the downslide of these two types of erring workers.
1. The absentee
Absenteeism is the most common flaw of erring workers. If an employee is always absent and nothing is done to reform him for some time, the rest of the employees might think you are lax in implementing company rules regarding attendance.
The best thing to do is to talk to the employee and extricate from him the real reason why he is always absent. If say, someone in his family is sick, and he's the only one caring for that sick person, then flex his time so that when he comes in late, he can extend his time over the standard hours until he gets in his required time for the day.
But if you find that his reasons are not valid, give him a definite period to correct his problem or else he goes out of the door.
An employee displays his negative attitude by complaining about many things. The best way to deal with this type of employee is to give him what he wants in a reasonable way that will not be in conflict with company regulations. Hopefully he will be satisfied.
If he still has some complaints, and those complaints are unreasonable, then you can't really help him anymore. It is really part of his character. The only way you can deal with him is to warn him not to infect his co-workers, or you will be forced to fire him on valid grounds.
