Entitled employees can be a pain for your office, mostly because they have this “we’re better than the
rest” attitude. Entitled employees can be from all stages of the career path. It’s one thing to be self-confident, but completely another to be entitled. These
employees expect to be treated much better than others, and that’s when the problem begins. It doesn’t matter if they work in a private practice, corporate practice or have completed a residency entitled employees need to be dealt with right away.

One thing to know about these entitled employees is their psychology works differently. Each must’ve
gone through something in their lives that triggered their superiority complex. Every employee’s reason
to be entitled varies according to the events in their lives.
Let’s go through what psychological entitlement is and how it can be dealt with.

What is Psychological Entitlement?
Psychological entitlement stems from an employee’s background and achievements. Some young ODs come out of

optometry school and feel like they can just walk into a practice and take over. The mindset that they are a Doctor

can provide that entailment factor. Many will have achieved great goals whether it be grades, residency or a family

member in the optical industry.

They start believing they’re better than everyone else and should be
treated differently, much better. Some things entitled employees ask for are more income right away, seeing less patients per hour, not working nights and weekends and making demands.

The mechanics behind psychological entitlement is rather complex yet simple. Anyone you meet exhibits
signs of entitlement would easily tell you how they’re raised. Yes, it has a lot to do with one’s brought
up. As stated earlier as well, the reasons behind entitlement vary. However, entitlement in the
workplace stirs a pot of politics, employee rivalry, and eventually, misconduct, which can become a pain
for the practice manager or owner.

Provide Constant Feedback

The first thing you need to realize as a manger is that you can’t change an entitled employee’s mindset. However, you can manage their behavior and even curb their entitlement.

You can do so by providing them constant feedback in a neutral manner that doesn’t set
them off. For example, you can call them and tell them about their good performance. Also, at the same
inform them about their shortcomings. This will balance your review, and you won’t come off as a bad.

Research states that employees tend to respond more rationally when they’re given a negative
review along with a positive one.

Monitor Their Behavior
Entitled employees need to be managed by checking their overall performance and their behavior
towards other employees. If an employee is entitled, chances are they’re going to flaunt their “I’m
better than you” attitude to others as well, and that’s not right.

All employees need to feel accepted,welcome, and most importantly, equal. If they feel that other employees are supposedly getting
preferential treatment, even if they’re not, it can negatively affect their productivity. Hence, as a
manager, you need to ensure such behavior is not enforced. It’s a big responsibility to manage all of
your employees and an even bigger responsibility to provide all employees with a sense of belonging.

Final Points
Entitlement is an issue that can make things worse for other people. When someone’s full of superiority
complex, they make others feel much less about them, and this doesn’t fare well for them. Hence, as a
manager, it’s up to you to ensure entitled employees keep such behaviors to themselves and not spread
them around the workplace. Entitled employees cause many issues in the practice, stop the issues before they get bigger!