Many of us who work in a corporate milieu are familiar with the 1999 movie "Office Space", a darkly satirical comedy which focused on one man's dissatisfaction with (and occasional outright hatred towards) his workplace. In his fictitious company there was one highly marginalized employee who, after having his desk relocated to the basement and his stapler stolen, threatens to burn down the entire office. The movie ends with this disturbed individual following through with his threat, much to the delight of his coworkers.
 
While this situation is clearly an exaggeration of certain stereotypes (a callous manager, inept coworkers, etc), the fact remains that hostility can exist in any workplace, and can sometimes can erupt in very unfunny ways. Consider the recent survey conducted by the SHRM which shows an overall increase in incidents of workplace hostility in the last sixteen years. These incidents can include everything from threatening senior management to deliberately downloading software viruses. All told the costs associated with these incidents have reached over 120 million dollars.
 
Sad to say, but HR personnel are often the first targets of workplace hostility. As the messengers of bad news, we are often seen as the bad guys, and are treated accordingly. While this isn't true, we do have to power to identify and manage those risk factors which have contributed to hostility in other organizations.

 

Join CCM on Thursday, Aug. 28th for our newest audio conference: Workplace Hostility: Identifying and Managing At-Risk Employees. This informative 75 minute session will help you deal with these potentially dangerous situations safely and effectively, before they occur.