NEW research confirms what most people already knew: the office antagonist ought to be fired. Jerks in the workplace bring morale down, cost a lot of money to deal with and risk sending good employees running.For a report published this week, talent management firm Cornerstone OnDemand analysed a data set of 63000 employees and singled out “toxic employees”, or people who were dismissed from their jobs because they harassed their co-workers, falsified documents, engaged in fraud or were violent in the workplace.Not surprisingly, the firm found toxic employees made people around them miserable. When the ratio of toxic employees rose by a one in 20 ratio, their co-workers became 54% more likely to quit their jobs, the firm found.All that quitting can get pretty expensive. Because jerks make bystanders more likely to leave, which in turn pushes up replacement expenses, Cornerstone OnDemand estimates that, in a group of 20, it costs an average of $12800 (R154000) to bring on board just ...
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