Workplace violence is on the rise and can't be ignored. "No one is immune from this," said Bobbi Kloss, director of HCM services for BAN. "When you're dealing with compliance or these major workforce dynamics, employers go, 'this hasn't happened to me, it's not going to.' But we're seeing more and more."

Unfortunately, employers who continue to put their heads in the sand open themselves up to increased risk–and even legal action. Simmers referenced the Occupational Safety and Health Act's (OSHA) general duty clause, which requires workplaces be "free from recognized hazards that could cause death or harm." Twenty years ago, workplace violence might not have fallen into that category, but times have changed.

Webinar panelists emphasized that, no matter how much else HR teams have on their plates right now, putting an action plan in place to proactively address workplace violence needs to move to the top of the list. They also offered up a lot of great advice and resources for getting started, including BAN's new white paper on preventing workplace violence.

Know your employees

While there are common themes among perpetrators of workplace violence, the profile is too broad to be used meaningfully in the hiring process. One key distinction mentioned by Dan Jolivet, a workplace possibilities consultant with The Standard, is that mental illness does not correlate to workplace violence. "Most people think that people with mental health conditions are prone to violence," he said. "The reality is that most mass shooters aren't diagnosed with a mental health or substance use condition, but they may have poor mental well-being."

Mental or emotional well-being refers to an individual's ability to cope with stress or adverse events. "When your emotional well-being is balanced, these don't really disrupt your life," Kloss explained. "You're able to cope.

While attempting to create a profile of a potentially violent worker is a bad idea, there are some warning signs employers should know to be on the watch for.

"We want to look for sudden behavior changes," Simmers said. "I have some clients that are utilizing social media to track employees and follow their views on people, political topics. If you see people consistently publishing things that border on hate speech…" Well, that's something to follow up on.

"Employers don't always think about how what goes on outside the workplace affects what happens in the workplace," Kloss added. "The more you get to know your employees and what they're going through, there may be opportunities to provide support for them and help them get through that."

Workplace culture: Cut off conflict before it escalates

Between the transition to remote work and the rise of the social justice movement, the past year has had many employers rethinking their company culture and diversity, inclusion and belonging initiatives. The good news is that this dovetails quite well into workplace violence prevention.

"We're seeing hate crimes that are ending in workplace violence," Kloss said. "It's not necessarily putting into place a prevention policy, it's also about your discrimination policies. What is your culture with regards to diversity and inclusion? How do you talk to each other? How do managers talk to employees? Are they positive and reinforcing? Is it bullying and belittling? How do employees manage conflict? Do they have the freedom to productively communicate? These are the things that we're finding that can tip the scales when an employee is going through these events."

"Take every threat, every concern seriously," Jolivet added. "There are often precursors. It isn't just letting off steam. Enforce zero-tolerance for threats or physical violence in the workplace."

Another important policy to consider? Hiring practices. At a minimum, Kloss said, make sure you're not skipping the background check for potential employees. Jolivet also suggested some signs to look for during the interview process. "People who, when asked about prior jobs, if they reference racial reasons or make insensitive comments), that's a red flag.

EAPs: Your not-so-secret weapon

Employee assistance plans: Your company probably has one, and you highlight it every year during open enrollment as a support resource for employees, but are you really taking full advantage of it?

As Renae Hall, vendor manager for The Standard noted, EAPs aren't just for employees. Many have a whole host of resources for employers and management teams, helping them through the difficult situation of addressing performance and behavioral issues with employees. "An EAP has the ability to provide some of those performance management tools," she noted. "You want to identify trainings that will help address things for supervisors, help them understand and be empathetic. 'How do I approach an employee, what should I identify?' Then there's that piece of, 'what do I do in a certain circumstance where this person is not performing well?' Those tools can help to support an employer with identifying and addressing concerns both from an empathy standpoint and also from the policy side."

Hall emphasized the need for year-round communication with both employees and managers about the services available to them through the EAP, something that the other panelists were quick to agree with.

"One of the things that we train supervisors and managers on, whenever they meet with an employee about any kind of issue, rather than just assuming there's a performance issue, recognize that there could be an underlying issue," Jolivet said. "I say they have to have an EAP brochure with them so that after they meet with the employee, they can say, 'If anything else is going on, remember that you have this benefit.' That's when people are going to use it, because that's when they need it."

It's important to consider EAPs as an ongoing resource, both to prevent small issues from becoming larger and to address employee needs during and after a critical incident. "It's about being prepared across the board," Kloss said. "When you're having these workforce dynamics issues, especially something like an active shooter incident or workplace violence, you don't know how long the disruption will last."

Read more: 

• The value of a proactive approach to domestic violence
• Mediating highly emotional workplace disputes
• 3 ways to improve your active shooter preparedness and response capabilities