Workplace Violence - Tough Times Mean Increased Trouble For Companies Like Yours

Experts have long agreed, and research has proven that violence

, including violence in the workplace, increases dramatically during troubling times. The focus of this article is to recommend specific action that managers can take right now to make sure that their company and staff do not fall victim to the effects and financial impact of workplace violence.

It's no secret that human beings respond to stress in many ways. For some, escape and withdrawal are the norm, for others - an emotional breakdown which inhibits normal functioning and has the person either incapable of operating or has them running around in a frantic state. However, there is another group. This group responds to stress by lashing out at those elements that they see as being responsible for, or contributing to the state they are in.

Generally speaking, there are certain characteristics, traits, and signs that help to identify these personality types. Workplace violence and crisis management plans, as-well-as hiring procedures employed by human resources managers should have provisions for identifying, eliminating, and reducing this threat.

However, it is also true that many people have never encountered enough pressure to cause them o show the signs that professionals suggest you look for in protecting your company. An example of this exists within the healthcare industry. We understand that departments within a care facility - departments such as psychiatric services and the emergency room - lend themselves to unbalanced and aggression-prone individuals. We may not recognize though, that most of the assaults on medical professionals come, not from violence-prone individuals but, from patients, visitors, or family members responding to the stress of pain, grief, or even the chemical interactions of medications.

Regardless of the reason for the propensity towards violence, managers and administrators at all levels must understand and be prepared to handle the increases in violence in their workplaces that result during troubled economic times like these. Not doing so is not only irresponsible and negligent, but it's also dangerous. It's puts you, your employees, and your business itself at risk.

Action Steps To Take Right Now

Action Step #1 - Awareness

Understand clearly that violence can happen in any workplace, at any time. And it does.

You must recognize that "it's better to have the skills and training for handling violence and never need them, than to need them and not have them."

Action Step #2 - Identify and deal with incidents or threats of violence.

Even side comments that may seem on the surface to be nothing, can grow into something. Even if you don't take immediate, interventional action, observation over time in order to identify trends with the particular employee will allow you to respond out of a sense of concern rather than increased paranoia.

Action Step #3 - Hire a workplace violence consultant who can help you do more than plan.

Not all consultants are the same. When it comes to surviving a dangerous attack, you need more than an expert who has done his or her research, you need someone with real-world experience. Far too many managers and administrators trust their company's well-being to consultants and so-called exerts who have lots of ideas, but no time in the field doing what they propose. And when I comes to surviving a self-defense situation from someone who wants to beat, break, or kill you, the last thing you need is unproven theory.

Action Step #4 - Provide emergency response training, facility-wide.

There is no correlation between acts of violence and occupation, especially when it comes to tough times like these. However, there is a correlation between violence and the ability to control and deal with it.

What I mean is, the greater the likelihood that an attack can be neutralized, the less likely that one will be initiated. And, while many managers, administrators, and business owners believe that training will make their workplace more dangerous, the opposite is actually true.

Training can be as simple as teaching employees what to look for and how to avoid an attack, evade and attempted assault, and effectively escape from a dangerous environment, all the way to actual physically defending against weapon attacks, dealing with acts of terrorism while traveling, and more.

Leaders Lead With Strategic Vision and Purpose

There is enough stress, confusion, and feelings of overwhelm that people must deal with on a day-to-day basis. Add to this the increased pressure from tough economic times, and the uncertainty that some people will certainly experience due to rising prices, the possibility of job loss, and the inability to provide for one's self and family, and you have the potential for normal, average, peace-loving individuals to do things that even they never considered possible.

If your company does not have the necessary policies, procedures, and training in place for dealing with and neutralizing the threat of workplace violence already, you are already behind the times. I say this because the time to be prepared for is already upon us. But, it's not too late, if you take action now.

If you do have a workplace violence section within your crisis management and liability-control; systems and procedures, now is the time to make sure that it's not missing the crucial elements that will actual save people's lives during an actual incident. And, I'm not talking about the disciplinary and reporting sections.

Either way, take the position as the true leader who understands what must be done. Don't sit back and wait or hope for someone else to do it. The very fact that you're reading this article says a lot about what's important to you and what you're concerned about within the scope of your duties.

Remember that the part of your company's workplace violence and crisis management plan that will save you and your company from the personal, property, and public-image damage, as-well-as the financial loss that results from an incident, should be focused on managing the chaos that is at the heart of a violent event. No amount of logic, threat of punishment or disciplinary action will deter a person who has hit the point where they simply "don't care."

A true leader takes action. And the action required is to make sure that you and your facility are protected against the threat of workplace violence. Take action before an attacker does.

by: Jeffrey Miller

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