-Caveat Lector-
"Going Postal" and Beyond: Part I
Dynamics Triggering Workplace Violence
In the wake of the Atlanta day trading shootings, a mental health
professional emailed about dealing with the aftereffects. As I was mulling
over the question, I had to place cause before effect. Memories were stirred
of stress and critical incident consulting work with the US Postal Service
and other federal agencies and corporations. And before jumping to
conclusions, some of the specific "Postal" incidents (e.g., the first two on
the list) involved postal employees being robbed and attacked by non-postal
aggressors:
1) a carrier on a delivery route held up at knife point,
2) a female warehouse worker raped in an employee parking lot,
3) a supervisor receiving telephone death threats (perhaps involving a
jealous triangle with the boyfriend of an another employee), and
4) a postal employee, a former Green Beret, making threats in his
psychiatrist's office to kill two fellow workers for being "slackers."
Another critical incident intervention was with bereaved private sector staff
after an employee who, under the influence of alcohol and depressed over the
breakup of an unhappy relationship, wound up driving her car into a tree,
killing herself instantaneously.
And then there was a "blue collar" government division in a white collar
world, castoff by their agency as part of a lean-and-mean restructuring. The
group was relegated to the basement of a huge federal agency, drifting,
marking time, not sure where and when (or if) they would permanently wash up.
Not surprisingly, during this period of uncertain survival all were on edge.
Racial tensions flared: some white employees pulled up KKK websites; some
black employees on cassettes played speeches of Louis Farrakhan. Grievance
procedures were escalating. A manager in the Diversity Office finally
realized that the government was hemorrhaging money in this administrative
Armageddon. Was human blood next?
Three Key Hazardous Workplace Issues
Some questions must be reckoned with: a) are there incidence-prone work
environments?, b) is there a violence-prone personality profile? and c) the
steps managers and all employees can take to reduce the numbers of violent
incidents.
As a means for engaging with the first issue and aspects of the other two,
let me grapple with the most frequently asked question when people discover
my critical incident specialist background: Why is there so much violence in
the postal service? (I was a postal stress and violence prevention
consultant from the early to the mid-90s.) Actually, I don't know if
statistically there is more violence in the US Postal Service than in other
large companies or federal agencies. Most folks don't realize that the
Postal Service, apart from the Defense Department as a whole, is the largest
employer in the United States (if not the world). As of a couple of years
ago, there were about 800,000 postal employees. In light of the numbers,
periodic incidents of violence are not that surprising. Also, because almost
all US residents use and depend on the USPS, I suspect there's a greater
sense of personal identity (if not perceived vulnerability) with postal
shootings.
Still, with these conditions and caveats in mind, what are critical factors
that contribute to a hazardous, occasionally lethal, work environment for
postal employees? And while focusing on a predisposition for "going postal,"
none should be smug. A number of these dynamics exist in a myriad of work
settings.
Top Ten Postal Pressure Points
1. Fishbowl Pressure. To insure the protection and privacy of the mail,
many postal employees are frequently being watched through above the
workfloor viewing stations, two-way mirrors, etc. Not surprisingly, this
kind of surveillance can induce its own brand of suspiciousness. Initially,
in my rounds as a stress consultant, people were reluctant to talk with me.
They assumed I was a postal inspector or a narcotics agent.
2. Mail Mania. You have to be in "the belly of the beast," that is, on the
workfloor of a huge Postal Processing and Distribution Plant, to appreciate
the fact that the mail and handling the mail NEVER STOPS! It's a 24-7
operation and the time- and task-driven nature of the business inevitably
creates stress. Not surprisingly, for some folks, such as yours truly, the
midnight shift is a never-ending nightmare. Believe me, holding testy 3am
management-supervisor meetings, dealing with racial tension or helping to
defuse a volatile manager, supervisor or employee took a toll. I developed
high blood pressure. Perhaps one night a week from 9pm-6am precluded ever
adapting. But I think some people are just biorhythmically out of kilter
working when the sun don't shine. And I believe the data overall indicates
greater numbers of medical problems and even somewhat shorter life spans from
years toiling on the "graveyard shift." Is there a message here?
3. Overtime. A related pressure in light of cost cutting and price
stabilization goals, is running a lean-and-mean postal ship. A consequence
is less hiring of new, especially, full-time employees and more overtime for
existing workers. Overtime is definitely double-edged. The pay is very
good. Alas, sometimes too much of a good thing may create real problems.
While it's usually voluntary, too many become dependent on constant overtime
just to keep up with their monthly payments and charges. So overtime becomes
a necessity.
I witnessed way stressed employees because of insufficient sleep and
prolonged work hours. And I won't even bring up Christmas Rush when you have
to have a dire emergency to be excused from overtime.
4. High Pay and Nontransferable Skills. Ironically, one of the factors that
may contribute to a volatile job/career situation is that many postal
employees receive high wages for basically blue collar skills. For this they
have strong union representation to thank. However, such a scenario can
create stress in a couple of ways: 1) for some, their skills are very
postalized and do not readily transfer to other industries and 2) many blue
collar folks would not easily replicate their earning power outside the
postal service if they did find an equivalent position.
So people experiencing some boredom or job dissatisfaction may be averse to
making a career change. They don't fireproof their life with variety. It's
a formula for burning out or burning up! And combined with the
aforementioned indebtedness, one can imagine such an individual
psychologically "losing it" if their uncommon bread-winning postal position,
for whatever reason, was in jeopardy.
5. Protective Unions and Management Networks. Postal unions are often in a
double-edged position. In addition to advocating for wages and benefits,
they rightfully need to challenge abusive, incompetent, or unprofessional
management that threatens an employees' fair wage, rights or their ability to
perform safely and effectively. The dark side of this advocacy role is
covering for union members who have serious work performance and/or
behavioral problems. (The "as long as you show up your safe" standard.)
Unfortunately, I've also seen management play into this dysfunctional
scenario. One example, mentioned earlier, is the station manager who
overlooked or minimized the incessant, if not intimidating, razzing of two
colleagues by the hard working ex-Green Beret employer along with a cohort.
I suspect the postal manager allowed this disturbed postal worker to act out
some of his (the manager's) anger toward "the slackers." The manager
justified his not referring "the slackers" to the Employee Assistance Program
(EAP) because of a previous unsatisfactory EAP experience. This EAP
encounter had occurred years earlier and was not even in the same state.
In addition to an unprofessional or an inadequate manager, akin to union
protection excess, there is the destructive "good old boy" (and sometimes
girl) management network. This system continues to promote, rotate (to
another plant or station), deny the level of incompetence or emotional
problem of and/or give another chance to individuals who should not be in
management slots.
6. Employee-Manager Personality Profile. Again, one keeps coming back to
the double-edged nature of the Postal Service. It has a reputation of
providing employment opportunities for minorities and for folks on the
psychosocial margins. The USPS has also always welcomed ex-military
personnel, giving them extra points on the job application/exam process.
Sometimes this influx makes for a volatile mix. My speculation - literary if
not literal - is that you have a convergence of folks: from the Marine Corps
to the inner city hard core (and plenty of country boys as well). One group
often reveres authority, the other groups mistrust it. And numbers within
all segments come from cultures where weapons use and violence are not
foreign to their social world.
This combustible ground is not confined to supervisor-employee relations.
I'll never forget the time a plant manager, a fairly charismatic leader who
was building more open, trusting relations with the union and employees
called me (the stress consultant) into his office. This man, a former
submarine commander, not able to sit, on the verge of tears, verbally
replayed an absolutely outrageous, screamingly abusive telephone attack he
had been subjected to by a high up executive at L'Enfant Plaza, Postal
Headquarters. This Plant Manager's numbers weren't "good enough." This was
verbal and emotional battering of the most despicable kind. A culture that
still tolerates or is infected by such toxicity at the upper levels is a
danger to all concerned. Toxins flow downward and invariably poison the
organizational ambiance. The Postal Service, to its credit, continues trying
to eradicate such destructive postal "stress carriers." Alas, it's a long,
hard fight.
7. Destabilizing Effects of Downsizing. In addition to a "do more with
less" environment, the postal restructuring in the '90s created stress in two
fundamental ways. In the short-term, job/career transition centers that were
supposed to provide positive motivation for employees, supervisors and
managers without a position often had the opposite effect. These folks
needed less corporate cheerleading/positive motivation and more venting,
grieving and healing. As one up-and-coming employee derailed from her
management fast track cried: "I once had a career path. Then this boulder
fell from the sky and crushed it." You think this process can generate
feelings of betrayal, abandonment…rage?! And as with every reorganization
process for which I've consulted -- not just the USPS - the inevitable
uncertainly, the rumor mill, the intentional or not misinformation only fuels
fear and resentment.
Another consequence of the restructuring (the workforce was reduced by
50,000, but it was not called a downsizing; this voodoo semantics also grates
on people) was the removal of numbers, if not layers, of supervisors and
managers. The plus of such a step is a more direct chain of command and more
efficient, hopefully, two-way information flow and collaborative
problem-solving. Also, some that needed to cease and desist as managers did
so. The downside, of course, is the critical loss of senior people with
invaluable hands on experience and a sense of corporate history. The latter,
for example, may help an organization avoid always having to reinvent the
wheel. Too often, inexperienced or dysfunctional supervisors would replace
effective veteran supervisors before the team had a chance to digest the
change. Clearly, this is a formula for tension and conflict right out of the
starting gate for a work group. And this destabilizing supervisory
merry-go-round appeared to be a chronic issue, not just a glitch in response
to major restructuring.
8. Reliance On Temps. Another structural change in the spirit of
cost-cutting was the dependence on temporary workers. Invariably, in a
strong union shop, there will be tension generated between regulars and
part-timers or temps. First, there's the sense of being treated like a
second class citizen. Next, regulars objected when they felt temps were
taking away their overtime hours. At the same time, regulars also believed
temps were excused from taking on some onerous tasks. Clearly, this primes a
sibling-stepchild rivalry scenario. Is big authority playing one group
against the other to divert each from focusing on a common antagonist, that
is, upper management?
Finally, the uncertainty for temps was chronic: would they ever become
regulars? The time process was often strung out; people felt they were
twisting in the wind.
9. Partially Disabled/Chronically Injured Employees. For a significant
number of employees, repetitive motion injuries - such as back problems from
chronic lifting to carpal tunnel from constant data processing - was as
predictable as black lung disease for coal miners. Relatively few employees
seemed to gain disability discharge. Many of these working wounded were
assigned to book shelf-like work stations where they would repair damaged
letters or hand file mail not suitable for mass sorting or posting. Often
these folks with straining pain thresholds complained about the productivity
expectations, limited rest breaks, etc., that management imposed. The
formula seemed to be no pain, no gainful employment.
In turn, management often felt there were plenty of slackers amongst these
employees. (And truth be told, some were.) To prevent wandering and
inappropriate socializing these folks were also confined to a leper
colony-like bounded area. Again, at times, I sensed some managers almost
encouraged regular employees to scapegoat these "protected" workers who
weren't really earning their salary. The disabled were also a chronic mirror
for what could happen to "you" -- the currently non-debilitated employee. I
encountered several workers who played down and worked with serious pain
rather than risk the stigma of even temporary banishment to the colony for
the "damaged goods." This was a festering sore on the workfloor.
10. Us vs. Them. The obvious divisions at the Processing & Distribution
Plant were architectural, hierarchical and racial in nature. In the Tower
were air-conditioned modern offices for managers and high tech workers along
with more white than black employees. (Fortunately, the demographics were
diversifying.) The workfloor was sweaty, dusty, noisy; a darkly cavernous,
beware of being run over by a whizzing cart or truck world. The three huge,
much larger than a football field, workfloors, were overwhelmingly staffed by
minorities. The plant was not called "The Postal Plantation" for nothing.
In a racially diverse climate that involves people working in close quarters
and that tolerates a high degree of razzing to break up workplace monotony,
it takes an aware and skillful management to prevent these discordant
elements from becoming frighteningly fractious. In one station, scratched
car windows and hoods was wisely seen as a harbinger of even more hostile
postal tidings. Professional conflict intervention short-circuited
accelerating racial tension.
While focusing on hazardous workplace conditions and dynamics in the Postal
Service, clearly, these danger signs are not limited to the USPS. As the
recent events in Atlanta make clear, violence in the workplace is as American
as apple pie or, at least, as prevalent as mismanagement, emotionally
troubled employees, dysfunctional working conditions and readily available
handguns.
The Dirty Dozen
Let's conclude with a capsule of key components of "A Dangerously
Dysfunctional Work Environment":
1. From TLC to TNC. Work environment driven by "time, numbers and crises"
not by "tender loving care." Beware a philosophy that extols customers as
kings while treating employees as peasants; it's a formula for revolt,
inertia or sabotage.
2. Rapid and Unpredictable Change. Can be either a downsizing or
expansionary mode. Unstable leadership and work force; adjusting to new
personnel; loss of wisdom. Rules and procedures don't appear to be
operational; "the book" has lost some critical pages. Chronic uncertainty
from lack of timely information or from communication not perceived as
genuine or accurate.
3. Destructive Communication Style. Excessively aggressive, condescending,
explosive or passive aggressive styles of communication; excessive workfloor
razzing or scapegoating. Managers talking over employees; nobody truly
listening. Either defensive counterattacking or robotic groupthinking.
4. Authoritarian Leadership. Rigid, militaristic mind set; "superiors" vs.
"subordinates" or "inferiors." Typical slogans: "You don't get paid to
think" or "My way or the highway." Leaders blow up if challenged and break
up any participatory decision-making or team building efforts.
5. Defensive Attitude. Dismissive attitude and atmosphere regarding
feedback; little interest in evaluation of people and policies. Only numbers
count. Not safe to give feedback; people quick to feel disrespected or
rejected. Yelling or intimidation or, conversely, avoidance, preferred ways
of dealing with conflict.
6. Double Standard. Different policies and procedures, bias in application,
for management and employees, blue collar or white collar, racial or sexual
discrimination -- "Workfloor vs. Tower" dichotomy. Double standard also
manifests as management gets substantial training or support for dealing with
change processes and employees get minimal orientation and ongoing support.
7. Unresolved Grievances. No mechanisms or only adversarial ones -- "us vs.
them" -- to settle grievances. Or, dysfunctional individuals protected or
ignored because of contractual provisions, red tape, old boy network or union
cover, etc.
8. Emotionally Troubled Personnel. Management not actively assisting, in a
timely manner, troubled employee to get needed help; preferably voluntarily
or through a supervisory mandate for EAP counseling. Not professionally
engaging the troubled employee (or supervisor, etc.) can create a tumor for
the work team -- scapegoating, loss of respect for leader, apathy and lowered
morale, etc.
9. Repetitive, Boring Work. Not just assembly line syndrome. Also, "The
Bjorn Bored Syndrome": When Mastery times Monotony provides an index of
Misery! Your niche of success becomes the ditch of excess and stagnation.
Lack of opportunity for job rotation or not enough new blood coming into the
system. (Also, see hazardous setting below.)
10. Faulty Equipment/Deficient Training. Equipment or procedures (or lack of
same) that don't allow people to work effectively or efficiently…and then
workers are criticized for not being productive. Also, rapidly inundating
people with new equipment and operational standards while not providing
sufficient time and resources for successful startup.
11. Hazardous Setting. Disruptive ambient work conditions -- temperature,
air quality, repetitive motion issues, overcrowded space, problematic noise
levels, excessive overtime, nocturnal schedule and interrupted sleep, etc.
Personnel shortage results in lack of backup resulting in potentially
dangerous work expectations and conditions.
12. Culture of Violence. Culture or past history of individual and/or
violence and abuse. Violent or explosive role models. Alcohol and drug
abuse; employees with lingering Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Hopefully, this essay provides a slightly larger than life portrait of a
hazardous work environment. While "blue" in tint, the "white collar" world
also needs to pay heed. No matter the color, these dysfunctional workplaces
both overtly drain and frustrate employees and generate a smoldering
background. A seemingly trivial event can set off a chronically stressed,
troubled individual. Of course, some folks are ready to go even in the best
of environments. The numbers of "the working wounded" from all walks of life
is truly troubling. The companion piece will examine in greater detail a
composite profile of an explosive personality. It will also target
intervention strategies for reducing, if not preventing, violence prone
conditions and "postal" eruptions. Until then, of course…Practice Safe
Stress!
Mark Gorkin, LICSW, the Stress Doc, a psychotherapist and nationally
recognized speaker, trainer, consultant and author, is also known as AOL's
and the Internet's "Online Psychohumorist" ™. Check out his USA Today
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