2,500-employee local bank in the MidWestern United States Client: 2,500-employee local bank in the MidWestern United States Challenge: A bank manager called Health Advocate about an employee who was making threatening remarks in the workplace and that his anger was getting “out of control.” This employee was stating he could understand why ex-employees come back to the workplace and “show people they can’t get away with treating people like this”. He had been observed raising his voice and losing emotional control more frequently.

Solution: The Health Advocate team: Established a rapport with the employee and arranged for an immediate evaluation, which determined that he was at moderate risk to become violent Created an action plan to help the employee manage his anger and mitigate risk Coached the employee on adopting more effective conflict management skills Followed up with the employee for ongoing support and compliance Assisted the workplace with an Accountability Plan to ensure that the employee ceased the risky comments and behaviors

Results: This organization avoided a potentially tragic workplace violence incident and retained a valuable employee who successfully completed treatment for his high levels of stress and anger. Health Advocate also provided a complementary review of the bank’s Workplace Violence Policy and Procedures and shared best practices, enabling the organization to strengthen their policy and potentially avoid risk associated with inconsistencies.