{"id":483,"date":"2019-02-05T14:23:47","date_gmt":"2019-02-05T14:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.confidante.com\/?page_id=483"},"modified":"2019-02-05T20:23:06","modified_gmt":"2019-02-05T20:23:06","slug":"insights","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.confidante.com\/?page_id=483","title":{"rendered":"Insights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>25 Years of Workplace Violence: As seen from the Places where People Walk on Eggshells, Work in Fear and Worry<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is nothing more important than experience when it\ncomes to maintaining safe, harmonious and productive working environments. We\nrecently performed a review of some of our most challenging cases and are\nsharing important information and insights into what we have learned. Improving\ntroubled workplaces almost always commences when we team-up with frustrated\nmanagers; many who are rapidly approaching the \u201cend of their rope.\u201d&nbsp; After our first conversation with the vast\nmajority of managers who are looking for answers, we learn that they have\nignored or failed to see the red flags waving brightly where the unhappy\nemployees work every day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What we\u2019ve learned about human behavior and threats of\nviolence is true across industries throughout the nation and in businesses and\ngovernment agencies, both large and small. If you read the newspapers and\nfollow the headlines on the internet, you come to realize that there is a\nrepetitive nature to acts of workplace and school violence. There are certain\npatterns of workplace behavior and performance issues that repeat themselves in\ncase after case that are too often ignored and tolerated by well-meaning people\nwho are either in denial or unwilling to confront the truth. There are also workplace\npolicies and practices that we have developed for many of our clients that,\nwhen followed, prevent the escalation towards hostile, threatening and violent\nacting out and just make good sense from a purely human perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While you can easily \u201cgoogle\u201d and find statistical studies\nand formal research papers about workplace violence, in this case, we speak on\nthe topic as professionals who have spent a good deal of their practice hours in\nthe trenches with potential and actual perpetrators of violence . We have\nworked, side by side, with business owners, leaders, managers and their\nattorneys dedicated to keeping their workplaces safe and productive and their\nemployees and customers free from harm. We suspect some of what we have to say\nwill resonate with your experience and you may want to become more proactive in\nmanaging the inappropriate and potentially threatening behavioral situations\nyou encounter going forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What impressed us were the four frequently encountered correlations\nwe found in a high percentage of hostile workplace situations we have dealt\nwith over our careers. These are the factors that you should recognize as being\nrelated to behavioral issues:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>How carefully the employer vets a candidate for\nemployment to determine the suitability of their personalities to work compatibly\nwith existing staff and managers.<\/li><li>How ninety day probation periods and progressive\ndiscipline processes are utilized to address behavior and performance issues\nproactively.<\/li><li>How actively the employer enforces the standards\nof behavior that are set to hold employees accountable for their workplace\ninteractions and performance.<\/li><li>How proactively you react to escalations of\nhostile, harassing and threatening behaviors.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The vast majority of complex and potentially dangerous cases\nwe have managed or reviewed over the years have observable and often documented\nperformance issues that can, in many cases, be traced back to early in their\nemployment history and prior to threats being raised. These cases are allowed\nto develop and worsen over time and inappropriate, unacceptable patterns of\nbehavior or sub-standard levels of performance are tolerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve had cases that would stun you when you see what\nco-workers and supervisors are asked to accept, work around and compensate for\ndue to the inaction of managers. When situations like these are ignored and\ntolerated or when appropriate action isn\u2019t taken, the damage spreads like a\nfever that could have been cured. We forget that doing nothing is a choice of\ninaction and sends a potent message. It is important to keep in mind that by\nfailing to act we validate the inappropriate behavior. By doing nothing we are\nsilently saying, \u201cIt\u2019s okay to act this way- to intimidate, harass, bully or\nthreaten\u201d because we allow it to continue. You would be amazed how frequently\nwe get calls that start something like this, \u201cWe were going to call you a month\nago but it wasn\u2019t that bad yet. We thought we could handle it ourselves.\u201d\nProblem behavior does not spontaneously correct itself when left unaddressed.\nIt tends to deteriorate, at times, to dangerous levels. Too often, unsettling\nand escalating behavior is well documented in personnel files while no\ncorrective action is taken. At other times, patterns of problematic behavior\nare reported verbally by managers or co-workers during the course of an\ninvestigation when formal complaints and threats have been made and they can no\nlonger be ignored. When people are frightened enough, the truth spills out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s worth noting that in over 80% of the eight hundred\ncases we\u2019ve been involved in or reviewed, unacceptable behavior and performance\nhave been tolerated for unreasonable amounts of time, negatively impacting\nproductivity, creating hostile work environments and involving increasing\nnumbers of people while developing into volatile incidents and termination\nscenarios. The lack of early intervention or use of progressive disciplinary\nprocesses also takes away the opportunity for troubled individuals or poor\nperformers to improve or correct their behavior, receive often-needed\nprofessional evaluation or treatment or be fairly terminated prior to the\nadvent of threatening and dangerous behaviors. Clearly stated and agreed upon\nemployment policies are often not enforced although they are put in place to\nprotect the employer and employees by maintaining certain codes of conduct and\nenforcing state and federal laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, here are the most common behaviors and patterns\nthat we have seen in written documentation or that are described to us\nanecdotally regarding employees whose cases are elevated to us. When viewed\ntogether rather than looking at each behavior or performance issue in\nisolation, the potential for danger emerges and the path to prevention becomes\nclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Absenteeism issues, patterns of absences,\nexcessive tardiness and leaving work early, issues regarding time-keeping,\nabuse of breaks.<\/li><li>Poor work ethic or habits, lack of teamwork,\nquality, productivity, timeliness<\/li><li>Lack of respect for authority; constantly\nchallenging authority, lack of accountability<\/li><li>Disrespectful, argumentative or insubordinate<\/li><li>Yelling and use of profanity directed at\nco-workers or managers<\/li><li>Verbal altercations with co-workers, managers\nand\/or customers<\/li><li>Multiple co-worker and customer complaints<\/li><li>Displays of anger, including banging or throwing\nthings, destroying or damaging company property or equipment, slamming doors;\ntemper tantrums<\/li><li>Mood swings that are often described as\n\u201cJekyll-Hyde\u201d type personalities<\/li><li>Rude,\nintimidating, bullying, harassing or threatening behavior; creation of hostile\nwork environments for co-workers or supervisors<\/li><li>Overly\ndemanding and high maintenance individuals<\/li><li>Problematic\npersonal life issues that affect interactions at work and limit accountability\nor performance management; over sharing and inappropriate involvement of\nco-workers or managers in personal issues.<\/li><li>Drug\nand\/or alcohol abuse<\/li><li>Repeated,\nfailed efforts for transfers or promotions with no clear path to advancement to\nthe point of disgruntlement, frustration or angry acting out<\/li><li>Self-injury\n(cutting, for example), suicide threats, uncontrolled emotional outbursts and\nmeltdowns<\/li><li>Issues\nevident at time of hire as documented in applications and interview notes<\/li><li>Repeated\npolicy violations, file notes or written warnings without improvement or\nconsequences<\/li><li>Self-righteous\nindignation; moral superiority and a belief and projection that they are\nsuffering the injustices they are being accused of even when confronted with a\npreponderance of evidence.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>The above list is not exhaustive but does represent many of\nthe repetitive patterns of behavior we see time and again. Even after all these\nyears, it remains a mystery to us why employers retain underperforming,\ndisruptive and sometimes, dangerous people in the workplace. How is it that we\ncan stand by and watch deadly scenarios develop in front of our eyes because we\nare afraid of the truth that we see? Why do we so frequently hear, after the\nfact, that the perpetrator seemed so normal, that there was never a sign? Or is\nit that we just aren\u2019t paying attention, don\u2019t know what to do, or don\u2019t want\nto get involved? Unfortunately, doing nothing all too often has deadly\nconsequences. We only need to look at the scene of one of the worst school\nshootings to understand what can happen if we do nothing to effectively stop\nthe most troubled among us. In virtually every case we have intervened in,\nthere were behavioral red flags that were ignored or missed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are reminded of the 23-year-old senior at Virginia Tech\nwho, on April 16, 2007 killed 32 people before turning his weapon on himself\nand committing suicide. His troubled behavior was well known to local law\nenforcement, mental health and legal professionals as well as professors, students\nand campus security personnel. People even joked that they were just waiting\nfor him to do something or hear about something he did. Unfortunately, it\nwasn\u2019t long before he did. His past history over the prior 18 months reads very\nmuch like many of the case files we work with and when something as horrifying\nas the events at Virginia Tech occur, and more recent school shootings, we are reminded why we do our best to\nmake sure events like this don\u2019t happen on our watch. We work a case and\ninvestigate it until we have an opinion about whether it\u2019s really dangerous or\nnot. We never guess at it and keep going until we know everything we can know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When\nreviewing this case and others, we are convinced that behavior like Cho\nSeung-Hui\u2019s doesn\u2019t escalate in a vacuum and suddenly explode in violence. It\nis often with the enabling behavior of others who adjust around these\nindividuals, like the professor who taught him individually because of the\ndanger Cho presented to other students or the professionals who knew of the\ndanger but took no effective action. Many people were aware that Cho\u2019s behavior\nand mental state had deteriorated in the weeks just prior to his rampage. Below\nare some of the warning signs that were described, after the fact, by those who\nknew him:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>A\n     troubled young man who rarely spoke or made eye contact, not even\n     responding when directly spoken to.<\/li><li>He\n     was always alone whether in the dining hall, in classes, watching TV,\n     riding his bike, or working out.<\/li><li>He\n     was depressed and suicidal; he may have been on anti-depressant\n     medication.<\/li><li>He\n     wore dark glasses much of the time and pulled his hat very low so that it\n     was hard to see his face.<\/li><li>He\n     was distant, sullen, lonely, mean and angry; his behavior was becoming\n     increasingly erratic.<\/li><li>His\n     writings were alarming, intimidating, threatening, spoke of death and were\n     said to be \u201cviolence drenched.\u201d A professor took him out of class and\n     taught him one on one for the rest of the semester to keep the other\n     students safe.<\/li><li>He\n     had previously been accused of stalking two female students, following\n     them, getting personal information about them from the internet, and\n     taking pictures of them with his cell phone.<\/li><li>The\n     local police received a call from an acquaintance who was concerned that\n     he might be suicidal and he was taken to a mental health facility.\n     Although he showed signs of psychotic thinking and a court ordered that he\n     undergo an inpatient evaluation, a psychiatrist determined that he wasn\u2019t\n     suicidal, and released him the same day without performing the\n     court-ordered evaluation.<\/li><li>Although\n     the judge\u2019s ruling on his mental health should have barred him from\n     purchasing the handguns he used, according to federal regulation, he was\n     able to buy two weapons and ammunitions in a local store and on the\n     internet.<\/li><li>Despite\n     repeated reports to school and local authorities, there was no coordinated\n     effort to react to the early warning signs of danger; there was no follow\n     through or point of responsibility.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>After events like this, people will often say, \u201cYes. We\nknew. We were worried but there was nothing we could do. Our hands were tied.\nThe threat wasn\u2019t specific.\u201d Similar sentiments were expressed after the more\nrecent Parkland shooting in Florida and in other high profile cases. While\nthese stories only surface to the public after deadly events take place, there\nare many people that saw the signs long before the acts. We don\u2019t agree that\nthere is nothing that can be done to stop the loss of life in the majority of\nthese cases. The facts tell a very different story post-incident. The road to\nviolence is usually well marked, the dangers known to many. We don\u2019t accept the\nexcuse that there is nothing we can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We firmly believe that many acts of workplace violence are\npreventable. Aggressively combating workplace violence not only saves lives and\nprevents would-be perpetrators from destroying or losing their own lives, it\nsends a powerful message to co-workers. Employees should not be exposed to\nunnecessary danger or asked to tolerate disturbing and erratic behavior.\nProactively addressing behavior and performance issues not only makes the workplace\nsafer, it also helps foster significant advances in workplace harmony,\nproductivity and profitability while establishing respectful environments.\nThere is a well-established and direct correlation as we stated above between\nwho we hire, how we manage the people we hire, how we train the managers and\nleaders we select and threats or acts of workplace violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some small workplaces may experience a single threat of\nviolence while large employers including retailers, healthcare systems and\nbanks confront potential threats on a daily basis and hundreds of potentially\ndangerous situations in a year. From our perspective, whether it happens to you\nor somewhere else- it\u2019s vital to pay attention and take notice of what\u2019s going\non around you. It\u2019s an opportunity to step back and step up, to take a look at\nthe larger picture of work life and create potentially lifesaving improvements\nin how we run our businesses, improve work cultures and environments, increase\ncollaboration and improve customer experiences. Just as there are proven\npredictors of workplace violence there are also proven predictors of successful\nindividual and company performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve learned in our personal and professional lives not to\nwait for something bad to happen because if we stand idly by for long enough,\nsomething will. In the meantime, we advise our clients to do everything they\ncan to hire right, identify problems early, intervene and eliminate behaviors\nthat are threatening and potentially dangerous to their workplaces. You may\nread these words and say, \u201cYeah, yeah, yeah. That\u2019s obvious. I know that. I\u2019ve\nheard that before.\u201d But instead, try asking yourself what you\u2019re going to do\nabout it. It is a far better and more positive use of time and resources, and\nfar more rewarding, to forge a harmonious and productive workplace than it is\nto court disaster and tempt fate. It makes more sense to take the time to hire\nright and utilize 90-day probation periods than it does to fire slowly or too\nlate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While investigating cases of all types in our practice, we hear truths that are uncomfortable to tell and nobody wants to say. We are often saying the very things that no one else wants to hear or believe. But telling the truth has saved lives and prevented bad situations from escalating. We\u2019d like to think that, for the most part, our clients know that is what they\u2019ll get from us and what they\u2019ve come to expect. We often refer to ourselves as \u201cthe finders of fact\u201d or the objective truth tellers and we thoroughly accept our client\u2019s right to form and draw their own conclusions and follow or not the recommendations we make. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given the nature of our work and the risks involved, we have\nbecome increasingly convinced that discovering and telling the truth is the\nonly option. We are willing to be challenged regarding how we reach our\nconclusions and determine credibility. Lives, after all, are often at stake. We\nfollow a theory that if you\u2019ve had enough difficulty with an employee and they\nhave reached a point where they are sufficiently inappropriate to make\nthemselves vulnerable to termination, they should be terminated. The facts show\nthat tolerating on-going patterns of inappropriate behavior, giving too many\nchances when no improvement is being shown, people figure out that they can do\nwhat they want with no fear of consequences. The effective and consistent use\nof progressive discipline should be part of every contract between an employer\nand every employee. Ask yourself the last time you have experienced that a\nchronically poor performer spontaneously transformed into a stellar employee.\nIt\u2019s a rarer event than you might think but one that becomes clear when you see\nhow problem behavior manifests and then escalates overtime when there are no\nconsequences for inappropriate behavior and sub-standard performance. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>25 Years of Workplace Violence: As seen from the Places where People Walk on Eggshells, Work in Fear and Worry There is nothing more important than experience when it comes to maintaining safe, harmonious and productive working environments. We recently performed a review of some of our most challenging cases<a href=\"http:\/\/www.confidante.com\/?page_id=483\" class=\"read-more\">Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"fullwidth.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.confidante.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/483"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.confidante.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.confidante.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.confidante.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.confidante.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=483"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.confidante.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":502,"href":"http:\/\/www.confidante.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/483\/revisions\/502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.confidante.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}