Warning Signs for HR Managers

WARNING SIGNS

FOR HR MANAGERS

Client: We’re going to have to fire this guy, and everyone is a little afraid of him. What do you think?

SHSG Expert: The fact that people are afraid certainly matters, but let’s run through some other warning signs.

Client: Okay.

SHSG Expert: How has his behavior changed as of late?

Client: His performance is way down, mistakes are way up, and he sometimes has angry outbursts.

SHSG Expert: Does he accept responsibility for his mistakes?

Client: Nope. In fact, he tends to blame his coworkers.

SHSG Expert: Is he a loner? In other words, does he have other people who support him?

Client: No support whatsoever. No friends at work, no family, nothing.

SHSG Expert: Is he experiencing any major life stressors right now?

Client: I’ll say! Divorce, financial problems including a bankruptcy, his mother died and…

SHSG Expert: He may lose his job.

Client: Exactly!

SHSG Expert: This isn’t looking too good, but I have a lot more questions before I can offer an accurate assessment.

While paraphrased, this is an actual conversation between an HR director at a major regional company and a Threat Assessment and Management expert from SafeHaven Security Group. We have convos like this every day. How do we know?

The warning signs of someone who is on a path toward violence come from well-documented research. Researchers have studied hundreds of cases that resulted in a violent act and discovered a few behaviors that were present in most cases. We call them “correlates of violence” and they help us determine which cases you needn’t worry too much about and which ones you must act on.

Below are several warning signs and a brief explanation of each. Remember that checking the box on a couple of these is nothing to worry about, but four or five boxes checked on the same individual gives cause for concern.

Blames Others – One level of this factor is refusing to accept responsibility for one’s own actions. The next level is consistently blaming others. When you give up control to another person, it often causes a downward spiral of unhealthy focus and collateral damage.

Not Adaptable – An inability or unwillingness to adapt to a changing environment. For many people, change causes stress and these folks don’t do well with change.

Low Self-Esteem – Esteem is about value and this person doesn’t value themselves. It’s much easier to destroy something you don’t value. And if they don’t value themselves, how much do you think they value you?

Loner – For our purposes, a loner is someone who doesn’t have a deep, meaningful relationship with another human being. Imagine what life would be like if there was no one to support you or care about you or hold you accountable.

Depression – These folks often suffer from depression or some other mental or emotional health issue. Rarely is this bad enough to require in-patient care and they can often live happy, productive lives, especially if they stay on their treatment plan.

Multiple Major Life Stressors – We all get used to dealing with a certain amount of stress. It’s probably increased each year over time, but it did so incrementally, so we got accustomed to it. But when there is a major life stressor (divorce, death in the family, financial problems, addiction, etc.), stress levels take a jump. Most healthy people can handle one major life stressor at a time with only minor difficulties. What happens though when several major stressors hit at the same time? Stress levels rise exponentially, and the result is often extreme behaviors.

Diminishing Inhibitors – While all of us have been angry enough to reach across the table and smack somebody, most of us can find reasons to control our baser impulses and restrain ourselves. We don’t act violently because doing so might result in termination, criminal charges, developing a bad reputation, setting a bad example for our children, etc. But what happens when someone’s inhibitors start to fall? Sometimes they can’t think of a single reason not to be violent.

Irrational Beliefs and Ideas – Some people just believe things that are so far removed from reality that it makes you wonder where the idea came from. It’s important to understand what these beliefs and ideas are before you can know if this correlate is meaningful.

Little Empathy for Others – Sympathy is “I feel bad for you,” while empathy is “I feel what you feel.” Most humans feel empathy toward other humans. But empathy levels are measured on a continuum and these folks don’t have much. Having little empathy makes it much easier to hurt another person and not feel bad about it.

There are more than two dozen other violence correlates that we simply don’t have the time or space to list. You might also imagine that each factor receives a “weighting” to indicate its level of significance. We don’t have time for that either.

What we do have time for is to urge you to call us if you notice multiple warning signs in the same individual. Remember that these signs apply to a coworker, the spouse of a coworker, a friend, a friend of a friend, a neighbor, a family member…literally anyone who’s behavior you can observe or situation you can understand.

SafeHaven Security Group wants to partner with you in learning the warning signs, assessing threats, and keeping you safe. Just like we did with the above client.

Remember, the initial call and assessment is always free. There is simply no reason not to call.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: SafeHaven is now offering a Certified Threat Analyst course to be conducted online, starting late January. Contact Matt@ SafeHavenSecurityGroup.com if you’d like to add to your credentials and develop in-house resources to keep people safe.