Insubordination: Everything You Need to Know

What is considered insubordination in the workplace? Unlike other rule-breaking, which can sometimes be a misunderstanding, insubordination is an individual’s intentional refusal to perform a job duty or order from a supervisor or manager.

Insubordination can be one of the toughest situations for human resources professionals. This blatant refusal can lead to many problems if not handled swiftly and appropriately.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at insubordination in the workplace, including what actions are considered insubordinate, and what managers, HR leaders, and other supervisors can do about them.

Insubordination is an employee’s direct refusal to perform an ethical and reasonable action that a manager has requested.

The middle part in this definition is crucial. The requested action must be logical, ethical, and reasonable for it to be considered insubordination to refuse to carry it out. The employee must also fully understand the request and still refuse to do it.

For example, suppose you have an employee responsible for cleaning the offices, and you ask them to wipe down the desks. If they refuse to comply with that action, it is considered insubordination because they are refusing to do something that falls within their job duties.

Of course, it gets tricky if they have a good reason not to perform the task. However, if this is the case, they will typically tell the manager why they don’t want to wipe down the desks, instead of simply refusing to do the task.

There are many different examples of insubordination in the workplace, depending on the role, industry, and type of organization. Let’s look at some of them to make it easier to grasp this concept:

• A call center representative in a financial services firm repeatedly ignores their supervisor’s directive to follow the approved script when speaking with clients, risking non-compliance with industry regulations.
• A high school teacher at a private institution declines to submit lesson plans after multiple written requests from the principal, stating that they disagree with the school’s curriculum standards.
• An IT technician at a healthcare provider refuses to install a security patch mandated by their manager, arguing that it’s unnecessary—even though it’s required for patient data protection compliance.
• A machine operator at an automotive parts plant disregards a supervisor’s safety instruction to shut down their equipment during maintenance, continuing production despite the known hazard.

Insubordination is pretty easy to understand; it’s an employee’s outright refusal to obey orders from a supervisor or manager even though the order was reasonable and within their job duties.

However, people confuse this kind of workplace defiance with other rule violations, such as insolence and employee misconduct. This is because insubordination can lead to insolence and misconduct if the employee continues being insubordinate.

• Insolence: An employee disrespects a manager or supervisor by swearing at them, making fun of or mocking them, or undermining their authority with inappropriate behavior.
• Misconduct: An employee violates bigger rules, such as a law, harassment policy, or expectations for ethical behavior in general. This is a step up from insubordination and insolence, and might require legal or disciplinary action.

By contrast, insubordination is just an understood refusal to follow orders. The employee must know what is being asked of them and understand the task completely, but still refuse to do it.

To pinpoint insubordination in your workplace, you first have to know what you’re looking for.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), insubordination has three factors (which you’ll recognize from above):

1. A manager gives an order.
2. The employee given the order acknowledges and understands it.
3. The employee refuses to perform the order.

SHRM goes on to provide additional clarity:

“The order itself may take the form of a verbal directive, written instructions, the duties as described in a job description, and even an implied set of duties where no formal job description exists.”

“Employee acknowledgments can be verbal, nonverbal (nodding), or even the acceptance of a job offer. An employee’s unwillingness to carry out a directive can manifest itself as a verbal refusal, a nonverbal refusal, or an unreasonable delay in completing the work.”

SHRM also states that being verbally disrespectful doesn’t qualify as insubordination (though that may fall under insolence). Instead, the actual refusal is what matters at this stage.

Now, it’s important that the given order isn’t unethical or potentially harmful. For example, if you ask an employee to stand on a rickety ladder to change a light bulb, the employee may blatantly refuse because it is unsafe. This would not constitute insubordination because you have asked the employee to do something potentially dangerous.

Ethics can be an even more complex area for HR. A manager could give a command to do something shady, and the employee may refuse because it is unethical. In these situations, HR needs to step in and determine if the employee is being insubordinate or the manager is being unethical in their request.

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As an HR leader, it’s essential to thoroughly examine insubordination claims as a third-party investigator who isn’t favoring any one side. You shouldn’t simply believe the manager because of their position, but rather check your bias as much as possible.

This also means knowing when it isn’t insubordination and when the employee isn’t in the wrong. This is a pretty straightforward process. 

Remember, insubordination can only occur when the employee disobeys a request that is reasonable, ethical, and part of their normal job duties. The request cannot be illegal or dangerous.

Moreover, insubordination is not the same as debate or disagreement. For example, if someone doesn’t believe the task will help the business, you want them to say so. Employees often care about the company they work for and don’t want to see it fail because of a move that they believe is wrong.

Say that you have an employee who doesn’t like performing a task that they believe isn’t impactful. They bring this up to their manager, making a strong case for why it’s not a good use of their time. The manager may feel like this is insubordination because the employee is pushing back against an order.

However, this isn’t insubordination yet. A healthy debate is one thing, and employee non-compliance is another. It may become insubordination if the employee still refuses to do the task after the debate is over, or does things to intentionally make the task fail.

For another example, say that an employee has been tasked with cleaning up a loading dock. They argue that this is not a good idea because the dock will be dirty again when the next truck arrives. After pleading their case, the manager still wants them to do it.

If the employee continues to refuse the task and doesn’t do it, you have a clear insubordination claim. The employee may also take other actions to intentionally mess up the task. In this case, they may clean the dock, but then move all pallets in front of the loading bay or otherwise cause a bigger mess. This derails other people from performing their jobs and undermines the original order, which is a sign of insubordination.

As you can see, like with any workplace rule violation, there are some nuances that HR and managers need to be aware of when it comes to insubordination.

Imagine that you have ensured that the employee does understand the order and that it is an ethical and safe order, but the employee outright refuses to do it. This is a clear case of insubordination. Now what do you do?

The first step is to ensure that you have company policies in place that address how management should respond if someone is insubordinate, ideally well before any issues arise.

Then, when an infraction occurs, the manager should remain as professional as possible and explain the task again, especially if the employee seems confused. If the employee is disrespectful despite clearly understanding the task, professionalism is key for the manager.

The manager cannot give in to the temptation to be disrespectful when confronted with insubordination. They must keep their cool under pressure. If need be, they can walk away from the interaction to calm down.

In addition, the manager should explain to the employee that not following the order constitutes insubordination and a rule violation. Doing so gives the employee a second chance before moving the situation to HR.

If that still doesn’t work, HR needs to step in to look into the issue and try to determine what happened. This can be easier or harder to do depending on the people involved and what insubordinate behavior occurred.

HR should first examine the order to see if it is ethical, safe, and logical. If that all checks out, then it’s time to look at the situation from the employee’s perspective to understand why they are refusing to carry it out.

It’s common in these situations to find out that insubordination was caused by a personality conflict or misunderstanding, both of which can typically be resolved. While investigating, HR should—within reason—give the employee the benefit of the doubt and try to put themselves in the employee’s shoes.

If, after all of that, it is still clearly insubordination (especially if there is insolence peppered in as well), it’s time for HR to act according to their disciplinary policy.

How you handle insubordination largely depends on your employee handbook and code of conduct. These rules can vary from organization to organization. But it’s reasonable to assume that insubordination will follow the same path as any other rule-breaking behavior. 

After the first infraction, the employee is typically warned verbally. After the second infraction, it becomes a written warning. Finally, after the third infraction, the employee is either suspended or fired from the organization.

In a perfect world, insubordination (and other rule violations) will stop after the first warning. But if the employee has a strong reason for insubordination that managers and HR leaders didn’t pick up on, this process provides multiple opportunities for everyone to get on the same page

This three-strike policy also allows HR and management to create a paper trail of evidence showing that the employee has been insubordinate over the long run. By doing this, your organization will be more secure from legal trouble if the matter escalates that far.

This process is key. If it comes down to it, you need to make sure that you are following your official disciplinary policy and have the proof you need to show that the employee has been insubordinate or causing other problems. As we mentioned earlier, if you do not take any disciplinary action, insubordination can easily turn to insolence and employee misconduct, which will be bigger issues to deal with.

That said, there are a few important things you should consider before taking any action, especially when insolence is involved:

• If the employee curses or says something wrong in the moment of the infraction, pay close attention to how your company’s culture plays into that behavior.
• When addressing insolent or insubordinate behavior, consider the culture or circumstances of the incident. As SHRM writes, “If cursing is common ‘shop talk’ in the workplace, the employer would need to consider whether the language used by the employee was unusual enough to be considered abusive.”
• Always double-check with your legal team to ensure that you are following all local, state, and federal laws.

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We’ve covered a lot about how to spot insubordination and what to do about it, but what would happen if it goes unchecked and the employee continues to be insubordinate? In short, bigger problems will start to pop up, especially when it comes to the effectiveness of your management team.

By allowing insubordinate employees to get away with this behavior, managers can quickly lose their ability to manage. After all, if one person gets away with not doing their job, what’s to stop others from doing the same?

If your managers cannot manage, it stands to reason that your bottom line will suffer because work won’t be getting done. Insubordination is a clear sign of this and must be handled quickly.

Besides the impact of insubordination on management, it can also lead to further rulebreaking. As we mentioned, insubordination can go hand-in-hand with insolence and misconduct, spreading these actions throughout the team and company at large.

The last thing you want is for your company to struggle because of insubordination and other infractions that can erode your workplace from the inside. Without strict rules in place, insubordination, harassment claims, and similar issues are more likely to spring up.

In other words, you can’t let things get out of control.

In short, yes. If all else has failed and the insubordinate worker is still causing trouble at an organization, the employer can decide to take a bigger action, like terminating the employee.

Firing someone is never easy, but sometimes it’s a vital step to ensure that the workplace runs smoothly without constant disruption from a problematic employee.

The way to handle termination due to insubordination is the same way you would handle any other voluntary termination. This can be a daunting process, so make sure that you have all of your bases covered with a comprehensive termination policy.

Here are a few tips that will make this termination easier to manage:

• Always set a termination meeting at the end of the workday. This helps keep everything in check and avoids derailing the entire day for other staff members.
• Once the employee joins the termination meeting, get right to the point. Tell the employee right away that their employment has been terminated. Avoid small talk. Now isn’t the time to chit-chat.
• Explain to them why this is happening (and ensure that you have paperwork to justify your reasoning), but avoid giving justifications or placing blame. Simply explain to them how you have spoken to them numerous times about the issue, without it resolving.
• Just like with a layoff meeting, give the employee a moment to respond (within reason). Allow them to say what they need without letting the meeting unravel. There will be strong emotions on both sides here, so try to keep yours in check.
• Be mindful of the employee’s emotions, keep tissues handy, and don’t say that you understand how they feel. You probably don’t.
• Explain all of the necessary details, like their final date of employment, how they will get their final pay, what will happen with their current work projects, etc.

After you’ve done all of that, you need to wrap it up quickly, escort the employee to collect their belongings, and ensure that they leave the building.

Now, the only thing we didn’t touch on is benefits. When it comes to a termination for insubordination, benefits are typically not extended to the person being let go.

This is because a firing is a voluntary termination where the person is being let go due to actions they have taken. With layoffs, on the other hand, the employee is being let go because of actions outside of their control. So a firing or termination due to insubordination is—on paper—essentially treated the same as them quitting.

This typically means the employer will not offer severance or outplacement services to the employee being terminated, though some may. It depends on your organization and how your termination process works. Read our guides if you want to provide severance and offer outplacement.

If you need extra help with the severance pay, our free severance pay calculator tool simplifies the process by calculating severance pay based on key factors such as industry standards, employee tenure, and company policies. Click below to download it and give it a try.

Insubordination is when an employee blatantly refuses to follow a logical order from a manager. To be considered actual insubordination, the employee must fully understand the order, and the order cannot be unethical or dangerous. In other words, it must be a typical job duty that the employee simply refuses to do for whatever reason.

When claims of insubordination are made, HR needs to investigate the issue as an unbiased third-party investigator to determine whether or not the employee fully understands the order and why they are refusing to do the task.

If HR can’t resolve the matter by speaking with the employee and manager, they should document the infraction. Typically, after a certain amount of insubordination claims, the employee will undergo disciplinary action. This usually means that they will first be warned verbally, then be warned in writing, and then be suspended or fired.

Insubordination can also often lead to insolence and employee misconduct. However, both issues are different from insubordination and should be treated accordingly. It is crucial to stop insubordination before it can escalate to insolent behavior or misconduct, and all of such terms should be clearly defined in your company’s code of conduct.

Be sure to have a proper termination policy in place in case you need to terminate employment due to insubordination. This policy should include parameters for the notification letter, termination meeting, and whether or not the terminated employee will receive any benefits.

In the end, insubordination should be thoroughly investigated and—if it truly is insubordinate behavior—stopped before things get out of hand. If your managers lose control over their staff, it can lead to a drop in productivity, a tarnishing of the employer brand, and a hostile work environment.

If you’re looking for a partner to help you navigate these delicate workplace issues and support your staff through disciplinary actions or terminations, click below to speak with our experts and explore our industry-leading outplacement and coaching services.