Putting an End to Workplace Violence

What does it take to create a safe environment for employees? Park Dietz and other experts and CSOs discuss how to head off a security department's worst nightmare: Workplace violence.

Keeping detailed records of incidents is also a crucial component of workplace violence prevention. At American Express, former Vice President of Worldwide Security Richard Lefler's early intervention program was so effective that it reduced the need for senior management to be involved in situations that the response team was tackling. Managers began to question whether the program was even necessary. They saw only the cost, not the benefit.

Lefler tackled the challenge of executive buy-in in two ways. He created an annual report that informed management of the number of workplace violence issues with which he was dealing. And he worked closely with business management at each office location. These managers became extremely supportive of the response team concept because it prevented disruptions and enhanced their ability to deliver on their performance goals. 2. Build a TeamOnce you have the executive team on board, you should form a response team to track, manage, investigate and document incidents as they occur. This team is usually made up of representatives from security, the general counsel's office, human resources and the employee assistance program. They will form the backbone of your program, and as the team members get to know one another and build a cross-functional information-sharing network, they will help solve one of the most common problems contributing to workplace violence within the corporate structure: lack of communication. "I was once brought to a scene of a workplace shooting in California where one of the employees had come in and shot three people," says Dr. Robert Butterworth, a psychologist with International Trauma Associates. "Everybody said they kind of knew something was going on but didn't know who to talk to about it."

To demonstrate the magnitude of the communication gap issue, Dietz recalls a training session with the top executives at a prestigious company. He asked the executives to describe internal cases with which they were familiar so that the group could discuss them. However, the executives seemed embarrassed, edgy and concerned about whether they should be talking about these incidents so openly with fellow executives. In an effort to get them to open up, Dietz introduced "the doctrine of constructive knowledge," meaning that a court will assume that a company's supervisory authorities are aware of the facts of any case that has occurred at their company. The executives reluctantly agreed to talk about the cases but stipulated that the employees involved should not be named.