Waging War In The Workplace

The violent workplace mirrors an increasingly violent society. The proliferation of guns, for example, is a factor; 75 percent of workplace homicides are committed with firearms, says NIOSH. Domestic violence has spilled into the workplace, ironically, as it has been pushed out of the home; a man who is slapped with a restraining order on a woman's home can still track her down at the office.

But in a flat economy, many people with mounting bills, a pressured job or the loss of one see their employers and other organizations as the source of the problem. Last week a man who officials said had lost his disability pay stormed a state insurance office in Las Vegas. Most employees who kill managers or colleagues have been fired or feel mistreated. When "employees are treated as disposable commodities," says Bruce Blythe, president of Crisis Management International, the company loses moral authority. Reports of sky-high executive salaries exacerbate such anger, says a compensation expert. "We have a war of haves and have-nots," says Ira A. Lipman, chairman of Guardsmark, Inc., a security firm. The have-nots probably won't rise up and revolt. But the workplace has become an ad hoc battlefield.

When does someone angry become murderous, and who is likely to explode?