As an employer or employee, it is important to be able to spot the signs of a sociopath employee. Remember that you are in no way able to clinically diagnose another person, but professional help may be needed, especially when it comes to mental health issues.

What to Look Out For

A sociopath is defined under the Anti-social Personality Disorder and this person will display signs of being erratic and unreliable. It is important to protect yourself from discrimination and manipulation. A sociopath employee harms productivity and hurts the corporate culture created within the company. The Henry Law Firm knows employment law in Ohio and you may need to consider contacting them regarding this particular employee.

A sociopath employee can ruin a team, department, division or entire company because they feed off manipulation and thrive on destruction.

Personality Traits

The sociopath employee is often seen as charming and intelligent when it suits them but, to others, they present as cold and aloof. They can be well-liked within the company but not have any real friends. They struggle to connect with people on a personal level. Conversely, they are kind to strangers and know how to say the right things at the right time.

Since they have no ability to empathize with others, they are lacking in emotion and may laugh off situations. They often do not remain in the same job for too long and do not have long-standing loving personal relationships as they feel no guilt, shame or love.

They appear harmless until someone or something gets in their way or attempts to expose their self-seeking behaviour.

Lies and Risks

The sociopath employee lies and speaks badly behind other people’s backs. These lies generally have no master plan but are just to see how much they can get away with. They are easily bored and therefore play mind games and take risks to stir things up. They make repeated mistakes on purpose to make things difficult for others. Also they are often late for meetings and meeting project deadlines. They struggle to control their anger and can have high anxiety levels.

Manipulation

They only worry about themselves and are extremely manipulative to their own benefit. Additionally, they use their appearance or sex for self-promotion and often boast about their wild sex life. They may even commit illegal acts just for fun. Their life seems to have no plan. They also make threatening remarks about harming others or themselves. Suicidal threats should always be taken seriously, but a sociopath employee uses these to alter the behaviour of others to their benefit as they have no intention of following through.

They have big egos and love to share their own insights but are never interested in any advice given by others.

Most sociopaths are never clinically diagnosed as they blend in with society even though they struggle with mental health issues. If these issues affect the working environment and other employees, they need to be documented and investigated to prevent long-term harm.