How to Tell If You're a High Maintenance Employee

There is a thin line between brown nosing and being high maintenance. Brown nosers tend to actually move up the ladder eventually, while the high maintenance employee continually gets passed over for promotion or shuffled from one department to another. You may feel you have a right to be high maintenance in that your skills are very specialized and you are difficult to replace. In this case, management will work hard to keep you happy, but they won't be happy doing it. If your skills are just average and you suspect you are high maintenance, your employment may be at risk. Your manager and your HR department are probably looking closely for even a single infraction that will allow them to rid themselves of the headache that you cause.

Instructions

1. Copy your boss on every single email or piece of correspondence. You may think that this shows how much output you may have, but really gives the message that either you are incapable of working independently or you are playing some sort of martyr buried in work. After the first week, your boss is not reading them.

2. Arrive in the break room or some place casual and the demeanor of your boss or coworkers visibly changes (not in a good way). They can not get away fast enough and make excuses as to why they must rush off even though they were having a good time before you came in.

3. Take zero responsibility for mistakes and never admit that things could have been done better on your part. Always blame others or outside circumstances. Not only will your co-workers be afraid to work with you, they will quickly learn to avoid giving you any action items at all.

4. Run every action item by your boss before you take it. This is sure to make it clear that you are incapable of making decisions on your own and at some point make your boss wonder why they are paying you.

5. Share too much information about what's ailing you at any given time. If you have PMS so bad that you can't work, fine, but just say you are not feeling well and go home. If you say why, even a female boss will mark their calendar with your cycle and start avoiding you as much as possible during this red zone. No one really wants to know more information other than that you are not feeling well.

6. Come in late every Monday or not at all (getting your own three day holiday). Provide a really lame excuse like paint fumes from remodeling, fell asleep on a sheet-less waterbed and burned your skin because it was too hot or were just up too late talking your hysterical girlfriend out of breaking up with you.

7. Complain constantly about things that others don't seem to mind or even notice. This includes the position of your office, the size of your office and how you don't get enough face time with the boss even though you follow them about to catch them here, there and everywhere.

8. Spend more time learning how to use the internal HR system to your advantage versus actually doing your job. Know more about policies than HR.

9. Go on and on about every minor issue or inconvenience. This is fodder for your life of dwelling on the drama. Your peers have let it go and you continue to grind and re-hash as if it just happened. Be sure to hold any grudges for a long time.