[Shane Renard]

I found this rather fascinating to think about the employees that help run these successful companies. Good employees are very crucial in corporate America. Now on the other hand, it only takes one bad employee to taint the environment and change the dynamics of the department. So, our due diligence in the HR dept. is crucial to speak to the managers in each department to weed out these so called ‘bad eggs’. What are your thoughts on this?

[Fatima Rabahallah]

Totally agree. One negative person can shift the whole vibe of a team. That’s why HR diligence isn’t just about résumés, it’s about talking to managers and getting a feel for how people actually work together day‑to‑day. Culture fit matters as much as skill.

[RaviN]

GenAI tools can certainly help in finding ‘bad’ apples. But it absolutely depending on the type of bad conduct that you are trying to find. Monitoring is the key challenge here. For example, finding bad actors in the form of disgruntled employees who might perform security breaches and destroy/steal sensitive data, is easier said than done because companies can’t just monitor everyone in the hope of finding behavioral patterns that might fit the profile of a bad actor. But tools are certainly getting better to become more predictive about potential signs of ‘disgruntlement’, such as negative feedback from employee’s manager, setback on a sales deal, etc..

[Alexandra Tóth]

I find it really hard to identify the rotten apple while you have a huge basket and you have very limited time to check. In my experience, when you ask the manager (at seller’s side) they will most probably present you an idealistic and finetuned version of truth. Everyone is a superstar and very motivated, they live for the company and for it’s purpose, etc.
Unfortunately time will tell, who are the toxic employees or the ones you don’t want in your company. I don’t believe that any tools can show it to you.
What helped me in some cases to look into platforms like Glassdoor and check what people tells about the company’s culture, management. What is also nice to look into, the turnover / manager KPI if there is such. It can be an indicator of a bad apple (either the manager or in the team). That could help you to focus your attention and ask direct questions about that certain team or manager.

[Sílvia Duarte]

One great employee can lift a team. One unmanaged behaviour can quietly damage it. In M&A, HR due diligence isn’t about finding “bad eggs”.
It’s about understanding whether leaders recognise, manage, and correct harmful dynamics.Because culture risk isn’t an individual problem.
It’s a leadership one.

[Author]

Posts