The Pros And Cons Of Workplace Violence

Register to read the introduction… During these types of violence the motive is usually theft, and the criminal during most of these incidents is carrying a gun or other weapon which would increase the likelihood that the victim will be killed or seriously wounded. This type of violence falls heavily on specific service industries whose jobs make them vulnerable i.e. taxi drivers, late-night retail or gas station clerks, and others who are on duty at night, primarily those people who work in isolated locations or dangerous neighborhoods, and who carry or have access to cash. However, most jobs today do not involve these types of scenarios. To get a better understanding of some of the factors that lead up to a case of workplace violence, one must have a grasp of highly publicized incidents that have occurred in the …show more content…
Which is more costly, workplace violence training or lawsuits from negligent practices? Generally there are three areas that cost employers the most during violence cases: lawsuits, lost productivity, and damage control. Lawsuits in most workplace violence incidents are settled out of court and the monetary amount is not specifically known. However, some major cases that have made it to trial show that “several recent awards in excess of 3 million dollars, including the $4.25 million awarded on December 3, 1993 to a postal employee shot by a co-worker in Dearborn, Michigan” (Mattman, 2001) show that not applying your violence policy can be substantially costly. Lost productivity will manifest itself in two forms: employee turnover and the emotional strain of remaining employees. Another manifestation of the negative impact on employees is lost productivity which is often one of the most underestimated costs associated with a workplace violence incident. Employee turnover can be especially damaging, resulting in former employees inability to face the workplace after a violent act and the loss of victims that were the focus of the event causes the entire organization to suffer as a whole. The emotional strain that employees who stay with the company suffer can be far reaching. It has been estimated that “decreases of up to 80 percent for up to two weeks immediately after an incident” (Mattman, 2001) can result. As you can see from the chart below (Statistics, 2006), the impact of workplace violence is far reaching. This chart shows a small snapshot of whether or not remaining employees felt a negative impact related to the incident and the importance of having an effective policy. Nearly eighty percent of companies polled showed no change in their violence policy because they already had an effective policy in