Philadelphia Board Room Killings Raise Awareness of Workplace Violence

When a gunman shot and killed three executives, critically wounded one other, and killed himself in a Philadelphia board room on February 12, 2007, American workers everywhere were reminded that violence can erupt without warning when business decisions and personal emotions collide. While Philadelphia police are still investigating the murders, preliminary findings suggest the shooter was extremely distressed about personal financial losses he suffered as a result of management decision made by Watson International. Fury and desperation are experienced by many when they feel unjustly wronged or betrayed by people they trusted with their livelihood. This case has a number of swirling, strong emotions: a breach of loyalty, greed, betrayal, and revenge. Although this was an extreme case of a business relationship gone bad, disputes at work happen every single day, in every workplace. The key is: what do you do keep the powder keg from exploding? Organizations have an ongoing responsibility to provide a safe workplace for their employees, and to educate and prepare them for the possibility of workplace violence. To ensure safety in your place of business, employers and managers should consider the following tips: 1.) Don't ignore problems. Ignoring problems makes them smoulder, and then ignite. In any dispute, it’s important to first try to resolve the problem, possibly through a third party mediator, or through the parties' legal counsel, who should have cooler heads and not get emotionally involved. The goal is to focus on the business issues at hand, and what can constructively be done to deal with them. 2.) If you need to fire someone, have a witness, and conduct the termination meeting in a private place. Make the meeting short, and don't get into reasons for all the terrible things that the employee did to bring this on herself. Express some positive feelings about the contributions that the employee has made to the company, offer some type of severance assistance, and alert building security to have someone nearby who can react quickly if the situation gets out of hand. 3.) Have a zero-tolerance workplace violence policy and program with dedicated financial resources and training to ensure that all employees know who to contact in the event of a threat or violent act, as well as what to do if they notice a distressed co-worker. 4.) Employees who feel mistreated by coworkers or managers are advised to get help from sources outside the company: go through the Employee Assistance Program for counseling services, and seek consultation with an employment lawyer who can give an unbiased opinion on the situation. Knowledge is empowering -- and can help diffuse emotions and redirect energies positively.