How vulnerable are we?
Ruby Tuesday
91 Posts
In an earlier post, I described a conversation I had with an employee. This employee called making threats because of a written warning he received. Because of these threats and past history I am terminating him this morning.
All weekend I thought about what I had to do Monday morning. Noone looks forward to this unpleasant part of the job. Not only that but I got to thinking about the vulnerable position human resource employees are in especially after hearing about the two recent incidents where an employee killed a number of co-workers.
As a human resource administrator I enjoy offering jobs, training and promoting employees and overall helping others but part of my job calls for disciplining when warranted and sometimes even terminating employment.
The reason for this post is to ask if any of you think about or worry about the possibility of a current or former employee going "postal"? And if so, how do you deal with it?
All weekend I thought about what I had to do Monday morning. Noone looks forward to this unpleasant part of the job. Not only that but I got to thinking about the vulnerable position human resource employees are in especially after hearing about the two recent incidents where an employee killed a number of co-workers.
As a human resource administrator I enjoy offering jobs, training and promoting employees and overall helping others but part of my job calls for disciplining when warranted and sometimes even terminating employment.
The reason for this post is to ask if any of you think about or worry about the possibility of a current or former employee going "postal"? And if so, how do you deal with it?
Comments
My office is down a small hallway right off the plant floor, with only one means of egress. An angry employee or former employee would have to pass by two supervisor's offices to get to mine, but then again, the supervisors are rarely in their offices. The best I've been able to come up with so far is an emergency whistle, which I keep hanging on the bulletin board next to my desk, and the mace I carry on my key ring. However, these aren't going to be much help if I'm staring down the barrel of a gun.
We have a code we use on the paging system if there's anything that seems to be going wrong - we page "EDNA" to come to whatever area is affected - EDNA stands for "Emergency Developing - Need Assistance". We also have security photo ID badges, and the receptionist has access to pull up the ID pictures and familiarize herself with any former employees we think we might need to watch out for.
Finally, we're fortunate to be only a block away from the local police precinct.
It's sad to have to think in these terms, but I guess it's necessary in this day and age.
We immediately called the Sheriff's dept - they are right next door to us. They sent 2 plain clothes detectives over for protection when we fired the ee. They were positioned in the lobby across from the door leading to the hallway. Right across from the lobby is a conference room. We had the ee come to the conference room, we positioned ourselves between the door and him and informed him he was terminated. I had to do the talking. We instructed him to leave the premises immediately and we would mail his possessions. He did leave after proclaiming his innocence. The detectives followed him discretely out of town and to the state border. He lived across the border in PA. We hired security guards from the Sheriff's dept for 2 weeks - they were on our premises 24/7.
All went well, but we were prepared for the worst.
I know this is a different case, but it definitly made me more aware of my surroundings, and if any employee begins to threaten another, I take that very seriously. I know how I felt, and I would never wish for that feeling for anyone else. Some people may say something in the heat of the moment, and quite frankly, you just never know whether someone is capable of following through.
I think about this all the time because of the high pressure environment that we work in. Although our security is extremely tight and once someone is termed they can not getting back into the building. My problem is active ees who are under great stress. They have access to our buildings. Last year we had our EAP program come in and do a presentation about anger management. Over all I thought it was good. Generally we look for warning signs like increased agitation or threats. We recently requested that an ee with a known mental illness get evaluated and sure enough that ee is now on FMLA.
I used to work at a hospital that was across the street from the main hospital building. This set up was similar to a doctor's office where employees came into the front door and talked to a receptionist (behind glass). No one could get back into the HR area without being buzzed back. We also had several exit doors into our parking lot. This was probably the most secure HR environment I had ever worked in, but was almost the most remote from the employees.
You can never predict what a violent employee might do. The best advice is to take all threats seriously, notify your security and/or local police department. You can surmise they are blowing off steam, but you never know when someone will act on his words. Always have another management team member with you and try to have an "easy out" by being next to a door, etc. Even with all this, if a person brings in a gun, you probably wouldn't have a prayer of getting out in time.
I don't blame you a bit Don for having a pistol in your drawer, but it's really sad when our society has come to this, isn't it?
We now have an ex-ee who quit, then called to say he wanted his job back. We told him no the first time. After that we have not returned his phone calls. He keeps leaving really nasty voice mail messages on my phone and his managers phone in the middle of the night and you can tell he's drunk. Then the next day he will send an e-mail apologizing for his voice mail and says it will never happen again. Well, it always does. So, my boss now has that bad thing in his desk again.
It's funny how HR can go from one extreme to the other. You can make people really happy by giving them a job or giving them more benefits, etc. But, you can also make people really angry with the discipline they feel they don't deserve or worse yet by terminating someone. It is a very vulnerable position.
A second individual actually parked in the end of my driveway for several minutes the day we terminated him (it's a 300 foot drive), then later that evening called me to 'hope I was able to sleep that night'. I called the Sheriff's office that evening, but there's not much they could do, and I knew that, having been a police officer in an earlier life. They actually did end up taking him to jail that night for a domestic disturbance, but I didn't know that at the time. He only lived a half mile from me, and it took a while for that situation to get resolved. I did feel better after I found out that his new address was our state prison. : )
Good Luck. Things will work out, but do take reasonable precautions.
As someone said, we just need to do our jobs which unfortunately isn't too fun sometimes. I'm not one to worry about things that may or may not happen, but this weekend I was playing the "what if" game and it scared me a little.
I realize that we can't live our lives inside a bubble and there is danger all around us. In fact, every time we get into a motorized vehicle we put ourselves at risk. I learned long ago to enjoy every minute the good Lord gives me and it doesn't pay to worry. Yes, it's a good idea to take precautions and to be aware of your surroundings but damn it if I'm going to let another individual hold me hostage by keeping me in fear.
The end result is that life goes on. I cannot live my life worrying about things I cannot control. The biggest change I have made in life is to end every conversation with my kids, parents and other close relatives with "I love you."
A few stand out. The scariest one was a male courier who had access to a lot of different departments. I helped meet with him when we had various complaints and helped him get into EAP. The termination came when he made a gun hand and pointed at the department secretary and said, "When I come in gunning, you'll go first." During the termination, we had a plainclothes policeman outside the office. My boss, the director of hr had planned to assist with the termination, but the employee said he couldn't listen to her, he NEEDED me. I went to the department, explained everything to him, got in touch with his psychiatrist (pre HIPAA Days!) and he left. However, he started calling me - wanting to know what went wrong, how could he fix it, how could I help him. He seemed fixated on me and would often drive down my street, but I don't think he knew for sure which house I was in. Unfortunately, I had just separated from my husband so my child and I were all alone. Pretty scary.
He as arrested for assualt of his wife and child a little while later. I hadn't thought of this man for a while until about 3 months ago I ran into him at Wal-Mart. He picked up right where he left off, wanting to know about me and why I wasn't at the hospital any more. Thankfully, I was with a male friend (who is 6'5")and I answered minimal stuff and GOT THE H... OUT OF THERE.
You don't know these days and that's what is scary.
Several years ago, while working at a very large plant, I had to assist in terminating an employee I would term "whacko". He stood outside the gate that afternoon threatening to come back with an uzzi to take me out - not his supervisor, mind you, me!
A week later we held a grievance meeting. I requested the security group to send me a guard who could "protect me", not one who could be blown over by a gust of wind. They sent me a guard who in his off time was training to be a professional body builder. He patted the ex-employee down at the gate, then stood behind his chair in the meeting with his eyes boring into the ex-employee's skull. The Union thanked me later for protecting them.
At another plant we fired an employee for threatening to blow up the building. He told his Union steward, she told me. Again, he was patted down at the gate for his grievance meeting and the later arbitration. I think the arbitrator ruled in our favor because the Business Agent made such a deal about searching a mad bomber for weapons.
I recently had an employee who threatened his shift manager with God - as in God will get anyone who is being unfair to me. How this would occur is something else indeed, but he continued to tell anyone who would listen that this would happen.
We checked into it, he admitted it to investigations, who convinced him it was time to resign (he told them he was leaving at the end of the month anyway.) Payroll calls me the next day, and he'd called wanting his paycheck. I told her I know it was a resignation, but please cut the check and lets be done with this guy. So she says, "Shall I tell him to pick it up in HR?" No, absolutely not, downstairs at the Security Desk will be just fine!