Violence in the Workplace

Workplace violence is a problem facing companies today. Each year, approximately two million people are victims of non-fatal violence at the workplace. Often there is no reasonable rationale for this behavior and unfortunately, no employer is immune and no employer can totally prevent it.
The best prevention strategy, is to maintain an environment which minimizes negative feelings, such as isolation, resentment, and hostility.
There are several steps that can help create a professional, healthy, and caring work environment. They should include: Promoting sincere open and timely communication, Opportunities for professional development, Fostering a family-friendly work environment, Maintaining mechanisms for complaints, concerns and allowing them to be expressed in a non-judgmental fashion with timely feedback, Promoting “Quality of Life” issues such as Facilities, Job satisfaction, Maintaining impartial and consistent discipline for employees who exhibit improper conduct and poor performance.
All personnel should be aware of early warning signs, some examples could be, Attendance problems, Adverse impact on Supervisors time, Decreased productivity, Inconsistent work patterns, Concentration problems, Disregard for safety, Unusual behavior, Poor health and hygiene, Substance abuse, Serious stress, Constant excuses or blame, Unshakable depression etc…
These signs may show up in perpetrators of violence, victims, and those involved in Domestic violence. Although it’s possible that only one of these indicators will occur, it is more likely that a pattern will occur or a change from normal behavior. These characteristics do not necessarily mean a violent act will occur, they may be indicators of another type of problem such as being Ill, Depressed, Bereaved, etc…
El Aviso Magazine believes in maintaining a place of work, where all employees, customers and suppliers can work in surroundings that are conducive to a friendly workplace. Our next newsletter will follow up with this subject as we feel it’s an important subject for every business.