Learning English

Do you have to put up with problem people?

Most people would surely agree that work can sometimes be stressful. Getting on with our day-to-day tasks is difficult enough without having to deal with other people’s bad behaviour. Here’s an article that looks at the difficult people we may have to work with – colleagues from hell – and shares some tips about how to deal with them.

While you’re reading, decide which of these is the main conclusion of the article:

• You have to learn to live with difficult colleagues - it's part of the job. 
• Talk through problems with difficult colleagues - it might help the situation.

Read the text and complete the activity

We all have to work together

We can choose our friends, but we can't always choose our colleagues - and that can cause big problems. Today's open-plan offices make it easy to meet up with colleagues and collaborate on projects - but there's a downside to working closely together. The open-plan office makes it much harder to avoid people who have difficult or disruptive personalities. One recent high-profile case of co-worker problems featured BBC Top Gear presenter, Jeremy Clarkson. He reportedly abused a producer who failed to provide him with a hot meal after filming. Star cricketer Kevin Pietersen is another celebrity who has upset the people he works with: his teammates in the England international cricket team. Clarkson and Pietersen are valuable in their own ways – they are a huge draw. But many people believe that celebrities shouldn't get away with bad behaviour just because they are talented or popular - and it seems that their employers agree. Clarkson's contract wasn't renewed and Pietersen is off the England team, at least for the time being.

When they wind us up

So what about the office environment? You may not share office space with Clarkson or Pietersen, and there are plenty of benefits to working together, but people working side by side might irritate each other by their behaviour. Office gripes include: colleagues eating smelly food, untidiness, raised voices, poor personal hygiene and even rude behaviour. There might be inane conversation about what was on TV the night before, or you might be forced to listen to colleagues arguing on the phone.

Most people would agree that it is very difficult, even impossible, to listen to what two people are saying at the same time. When other people are talking and you are trying to work, you can forget about concentrating on the task you are doing. A 1998 study in the British Journal of Psychology also found that background noise containing irrelevant speech affected workers' ability to memorise prose and do mental arithmetic.

Top tips for dealing with difficult people

So what should you do if you have to work with the colleague from hell? How can you get them to change their behaviour? And if your difficult colleague is liked by others at your workplace, can you air your grievances? We asked our audience on social media for advice. Here are five top tips inspired by their comments:

• Try to be friendly to them and give them advice. If you explain to them how their actions are affecting other people, they might change their behaviour.
• Don't use bad language or behaviour yourself. Always maintain your professional dignity whatever your colleague does.
• You shouldn't let their behaviour influence what you do. Just because they are rude or aggressive, it doesn't mean that you can act the same way yourself.
• Keep smiling! Don't let them get you down! If they annoy you, count to ten and breathe deeply before you react.
• Just ignore them. They are not worth the time and effort to deal with.

There's no doubt that it is not always easy for us to get on with our work colleagues, but for many of us there is no alternative. Dialogue with the people we have to work with is the way to make sure that it doesn't get too bad. Here's to a happier, more productive workplace!

Did you work out the main conclusion?

It was: Talk through problems with difficult colleagues - it might help the situation.

To do

Time to tackle those tricky colleague questions. Have a go at this quiz to check your understanding of this article.

Next

Now you've read about dealing with difficult co-workers, it's time to tell us your stories. Go to the next activity and share your experiences about your own tricky colleagues.