Did you see Suarez sink his teeth into Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini last night?

How many times is he going to do this?

As it happens, experts believe that Suarez is likely to strike again. Apparently, Suarez’s biting behaviour is a reflex reaction to highly stressful situations.

Sadly, Suarez is not alone. The reality is that violent behaviour is becoming an increasing workplace problem.

What is workplace violence?

It can be physical violence, the threat of violence, harassment, hostility and/or intimidating behaviour. 

Violence at work can have a variety of causes. It can be caused by:

• Displaced anger from past situations
• The result of drug or alcohol abuse
• Criminal activity
• Thrill seeking
• Revenge
• Cultural or religious differences

The possibilities are endless. In Suarez’s case, it is most likely to be displaced anger.

Warning signs of sporadic outbursts

Sporadic outbursts like Suarez’s are the result of pent-up frustration, so the best thing to do is to look out for signs of building tension. According to Forbes, these include:

• Excessive complaining
• Withdrawal or growing silent
• Deviating from their normal behaviour
• Obsessive conversations
• Dramatic or unreasonable demands
• Personal insults
• Threats

You probably won’t see any sudden or dramatic changes. In fact, it’s likely to be a gradual process.

How to respond

If you do notice any of these warning signs, it’s best to address the issue head on.

• Find out if there is a problem
- Ask supervisors; team leaders; colleagues who they may have made feel threatened...you can even ask the employee in question how they're feeling

• Record all incidents and keep details of what has happened

• Try to nip the situation in the bud
- Remove stresses where you can
- Provide extra support and training
- Remove unnecessary responsibilities
- Change the work flow
- Offer the employee anger management counselling
- Involve your HR department who are specially trained to handle such issues

• Check that the changes are working

If efforts to resolve the situation fail, it may be that the employee has to be let go, if they behave in a way that gives ground for dismissal. However, by looking out for the early signs, you may be able to prevent an outburst from occurring.

This article was written by Tirebuck Recruitment, one of Solihull’s Job Agencies.
 

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Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here