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Fears of Increased Violence in the Workplace

I enjoy reading Stratfor.  I believe it is one of the more intelligent publications in the country or for that matter around the world.   It provides intelligence and analysis for everything from military and terrorism, to the economy and the world market.

Stratfor recently released an article, analyzing what it sees as the possibility of increased violence in the workplace.   According to Stratfor,  ” As we talk to our friends in corporate security and law enforcement about these layoffs, we are hearing a lot of concern over the fact that the layoffs could spawn incidents of workplace violence.”

The article then goes on to list the different myths about workplace violence, ranging from the guy who just snapped to current vs. former employees, holidays and violence, technology and security measures.   The article goes on and analyzes each myth, explaining why it is a myth and so on.  The article lists the signs of possible workplace violence and means of prevention.  All good information.

There were 610 homicides in the workplace in 2007.  Most of them were from shootings.   If layoffs will precipitate an increase in workplace violence then who knows what the figure will be not necessarily this year but by the end of 2009.   As the articles suggests, there are ways to help prevent it from happening at your business.

One means of preventing workplace violence is to conduct rigorous background checks on your employees.  While some companies have no preemployment screening programs in place others do just that–order background searches for job candidates only.  And while nothing can guarantee the prevention of violence in the workplace, scheduled  background checks may help discover those employees who are more prone to commit violence on the job.

I should remind you it is not necessarily the background check alone that will reveal the characteristics of those prone to violence in the workplace.  Sometimes the verbatim results are revealing and sometimes you must look for behavior patterns in the searches you perform.   Different searches when combined will often show that behavior pattern.  Credit reports and DMV motor vehicle driving records when combined can start to reveal substance issues, which in turn may prompt you to look for domestic issues.

Workplace violence is not how you want to publicize your company on the six o’clock news.  Get out in front of what could be an evolving problem.

Check them out before you hire.  And after.

By Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive and has worked in the entertainment industry, the financial, health care and technology sectors. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic sexuality in the late twentieth century. He is the author of the Constant Travellers and has recently completed a new book, The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.