General Forums >> What's on Your Mind? >> Ky. Shooting
Ky. Shooting
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Posted 3 months ago How do you think a tragedy like the Kentucky shootings might affect worker morale? How do you prepare for such events? Share your thoughts here. |
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| Posted 3 months ago We once had an employee making threats at my company. My co-workers and I felt very uncomfortable. The employee was, needless to say, fired; however, people within the company were so uncomfortable and nervous after the situation that we hired a counselor to conduct a support group. I think this helped a lot. |
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| Posted 3 months ago Perhaps the single biggest error employers make when it comes to workplace violence is the mistaken belief that it "can't happen to them." Workplace violence is, and has been, in every type of workplace in cities and states across the country. Fatal and non-fatal incidents occur everywhere and can occur at any time. There are no second chances when it comes to employee safety, so companies should take the initiative to implement preventative practices before it's too late. |
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| Posted 3 months ago Many companies are trying everything possible to find out if there are any indicators that someone might not be capable of managing certain scenerios. It's been controversial, but companies such as State Farm began about 20 years ago to give personality and psychiatric profile tests to prospective employees. Many people felt uncomfortable with this level of intrusion into their mindsets. But stories like this seem to emphasize the need to continue to find ways to make certain of who you're hiring, as it can quite literally mean your life and the lives of your team members. Chances are extremely high that this man's employer had no idea that he would ever do something like this. What do you think? If the tests had been given, might this have been prevented? |
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| Posted 3 months ago I think this tragedy serves as yet another reminder that employers need to continue to be vigilent in preventing workplace violence. So what can employers do? -Provide training to employees. Recognizing the signs of potential workplace violence is crucial to any prevention campaign. Teach employees of the "warning signs" to look for and ensure that employees are sensitive to this area. -Encourage an "open door" policy. Much like New York Transit's "If you see something, say something" slogan, the employer should encourage employees to report potential safety risks or unusual behavior. -Don't be afraid to contact the police. Some employers take the view that they can handle a matter "internally". Resist the urge. Contact law enforcement when appropriate; they may already have information on the subject that would help with an existing case or have knowledge of a prior history. Obviously, not all incidents rise to that level, but some do. -Take incidents seriously. While some employers have instituted "zero tolerance" policies, a one-size-fits-all policy may not be appropriate. Employers should consider what type of approach they want to take to workplace violence incidents or incidents of lesser severity that still indicate a problem. Employers should immediately respond to such incidents when they happen. |
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| Posted 3 months ago This is horrible. Who’s held accountable for something like this when the coward who committed this deadly rampage is dead?? It’s hard to make sense of something like this, because there will never be a valid reason why it happened. I know there are alot of families torn and so hurt right now in Kentucky. My deepest sympathies to every single person who is affected by this tragedy. God bless you all. |
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| Posted 3 months ago In my own experience, lost productivity following an incident is often underestimated. There are work interruptions caused by police and internal security investigations and damage to the facility, time lost by surviving employees talking about the incident and the details leading up to it, decreased efficiency and productivity due to post-traumatic stress syndrome, and time spent by employees in counseling sessions. Not to mention, workplace violence often leads to an increase in employee turnover and a drop in employee morale. Check out the article I recently posted in the news section for more--
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| Posted 3 months ago How horrible! Concern about workplace violence is huge. It touches everyone's human spirit. How true it is to think it will never happen to you. I worked for a company where an employee who was feeling upset came in armed looking for his target. It was scary. Everyone in the room became numb and none of us knew how we should behave . The support group is a great idea. Training is necessary. I think we need to inform ourselves of what we should do in a crisis situation. Prevention and recognizing the cues is also good. I thought about the psych tests and think these tests can be turned into fooled profiles if questions are worded a certain way. A lot of times it is not the new people being hired whom we hear about. How do you deal with an employee who has many years of seniority and suddenly without warning signs becomes destructive toward the team - psych test would probably not exist? Prevention is key. |
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| Posted 3 months ago Hi All, Prevention is key here. While psychometric testing prior to hiring may be helpful with initial selection, with increased workplace and personal stress, behaviours change, thinking patterns change and people make decisions under stress that they would not make under “normal” circumstances. Stress is much more prevalent these days, both in the workplace and in personal lives. Stress impacts workplace behavior and productivity, not only for the stressed individual, but also for all of the co-workers, having a major impact on the bottom line of a business.
Forward thinking business leaders recognize this need and take steps to implement programs beyond a band aid approach.
Along with training in crisis recognition and intervention, worklife balance programs, leadership training, diversity strategies, evaluation systems, are all areas of importance when it comes to preventing workplace violence.
Warm Regards |
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| Posted 3 months ago What I'm wondering is how they could say that there didn't seem to be any problems before this incident. There had to be some indication that something was wrong, and they missed the signals. It seems that perhaps there needs to be something in place that would help managers to watch for signs of a problem developing and act on them on the one hand, but on the other, when does it stop being the employee's responsibility to address his issues and start being the manager's problem? All of these are very good programmes to have in place, don't get me wrong. But what I'm saying is that people don't always give out information that would enable them to get any help. Many people have an attitude that what's going on in their private lives is nobody's business. Fair enough. But if it's going to cause an explosion at work, there should be a way of getting employees to understand the need to be more open. Now, how do we do that? How do we break that reserve? Here in England, people are even more reserved, and don't necessarily even talk about problems with their friends. Any thoughts? |
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| Posted 3 months ago Hindsight. People felt there were visible clues prior to such incident, maybe there were, maybe there were not. It is difficult to predict such situations, and yes, it is frightening to many. There is no textbook answer to addressing such situations. EAP service comes in handy to provide the needed coaching, counselling and professional advice to both HR, employees and management. Use them to the company's benefit. Unless one works in silos, we can detect major changes in our coworkers' behaviors especially when the change is negative and detrimental to you, other workers, the work and workplace in general. It is time to voice it to the manager and/or HR. LiChing Ooi
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