How do you deal with your own #KPgenius?

The current saga regarding Kevin Pietersen’s dropping from the England cricket team has created a lot of headlines with Pietersen being accused of being a disruptive force in the dressing room, making unreasonable demands as to his playing commitments, and of sending disparaging text messages to members of the opposing South African team about his captain Andrew Strauss. Pietersen himself has accused teammates of colluding with the originator of a parody twitter account of himself called #KPgenius.

The ECB has taken the brave step of dropping Pietersen for the final test against South Africa despite him scoring a match-saving 149 in the previous test. The situation that the England management have found themselves in mirrors the problem that many employers face when their star employee is difficult to manage but also brings in significant income or benefits to the business. What can be done to deal with such an employee?

It is the case that most businesses need different people with different skillsets for the business to function properly. I have worked at firms where different partners did not get on but they appreciated the need to rub along for the greater good of the firm. If all employees are the same then not only would they have the same strengths, they would also have the same weaknesses and a “clone” workforce is not necessarily beneficial. It is therefore often advisable for a business to give some latitude to the difficult star employee as to do so will benefit the business as a whole. This can mean that the employer has to perform a balancing act to ensure that the employee’s behaviour is not bullying or discriminatory as if this behaviour is allowed to continue then the employer could find themselves open to claims of constructive dismissal or discrimination from other employees in the business who have had enough.

Like the England dressing room, it is preferable for internal disputes to stay within the business with a united front being presented to both customers and competitors alike. Open signs of disunity within a business can be seen as unprofessional and also a sign of weakness. This means that when an employee, however talented, starts openly badmouthing their employers to competitors and/or customers it is normally the case that they will have to be disciplined.

So what action can be taken against an employee who is badmouthing their colleagues and employer? A lot depends on the nature of the remarks and the context within which they were made. The employer would have to consider whether the employee could carry on working for the business after making the remarks and also whether they can continue working with their colleagues and managers. Ultimately, if the comments were sufficiently derogatory and damaging, the employee could be seen as having breached the implied term of trust and confidence between employer and employee and could be dismissed for gross misconduct.

Pietersen made the remarks by text message. I have no idea how it was discovered that he had made the remarks by text no-one really seems to know what they said. It would be difficult for employers to check an employee’s texts particularly if they were made on a private phone or they had subsequently been deleted by both the sender and the recipient. Employers can potentially check employees work emails for such comments; however, there are privacy issues and employees should be informed that their emails may be monitored (usually in their contract of employment or staff handbook). Checking an employee’s emails is not a step that should be taken without careful consideration and where necessary legal advice should be taken.  Comments made on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter may also be used as evidence of trust and confidence being broken.

It can be very difficult for a business to sack their star employee. If they are a salesperson there is the risk that they may take clients with them; alternatively, they may have a set of skills that are hard to replace. It is a big step in such circumstances and businesses have to ensure that they are bigger than one individual. Hopefully the performance of England on day one of the test shows that such a step can be taken and others will flourish (I may have to amend this last paragraph if it all goes wrong in the next four days!).