When It’s Time For Anger Management
Training can help all employees—not just |
|
|
|
|
|
Turnout was
good at Aon Services in Chicago when the company brought in a psychologist to
give workshops on anger management. But Chet Taranowski, the company’s internal
employee assistance program (EAP) coordinator, noticed something odd: “A lot
of people who came had someone else in mind. They were there because someone
in their lives had an anger problem, not because they felt they had a problem
themselves.” That’s one of
the ironies of addressing anger in the workplace. Employees certainly aren’t
oblivious to the hothead sitting in the next cubicle or standing by them on
the production line. “But people who have anger problems don’t necessarily
recognize it in themselves,” Taranowski says. “They’re often surprised and
shocked when someone confronts them with it.” In the past,
many companies conspired with employees to look the other way. After all,
confronting an employee in denial is a thankless job, and it’s likely to make
an anger-prone person...well, angry. But in a security-conscious world, this
nonsolution is a nonstarter, so more companies are looking for ways to help
employees get their anger under control. A 2003 Society for Human Resource
Management survey illustrates this trend: Of 270 HR professionals responding,
16 percent reported that their companies offered anger management courses to
employees, double the percentage in 1999. “The real
impetus for this growth came after 9/11,” says George Anderson, director of
Anderson & Anderson, a Brentwood, Calif., firm that has taken a lead role
in training anger management facilitators. Recent, highly publicized
incidents of workplace violence also raised the field’s profile. “Then came
the movie ‘Anger Management,’ which popularized it,” says Anderson, referring
to a 2003 comedy for which he served as technical adviser. Today, more HR
professionals are looking for practical ways to keep a lid on workplace
anger. It’s a
Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Workplace Anger is
undoubtedly a factor in some of the 1.7 million violent victimizations—mostly
assaults—that Americans experience while working each year. (This includes
incidents involving customers, clients, students and other nonemployees.)
Employers that don’t address potential problems could pay a heavy price. If an
employer ignores warning signs leading up to a violent incident, it could be
held legally liable. “But even if the company has done things right, the cost
of defending itself averages $700,000,” Anderson says. Clearly, it’s in a
company’s best interest to deal with hostile employees before they become
violent perpetrators. Fortunately,
the majority of angry employees aren’t assailants in the making. “Most of the
people I see are not violent,” says anger management provider Ari Novick,
president of the AJ Novick Group in Laguna Beach, Calif. “Instead, they’re
simply people who have a difficult time expressing anger in an appropriate
way.” For some, rage is less an explosion than a slow burn. “Yet even
lower levels of chronic anger and worker conflict can increase absenteeism
and decrease productivity,” says Bernie Golden, a clinical psychologist and
founder of Anger Management Education in Chicago. “It creates a less cohesive
workplace and damages morale. Anger also competes with focused attention, so
it impairs judgment and increases reaction time.” These effects, in turn,
raise the risk of critical errors and accidents. Plus, intense
or long-lasting hostility has been linked to medical problems—such as high
blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart attacks—that may drive up health
insurance premiums. Stop the
Madness
For employees
who are always simmering, anger management training may help them control
their feelings and keep them from boiling over into destructive behavior. Many
employees are referred to training directly by HR, while others come via
their company’s EAP. Since anger per se is not a diagnosable mental disorder,
health plans typically don’t cover anger management treatment. Instead, the
employer or EAP usually picks up the tab, although some companies require
employees to pay it for themselves. The training is typically presented in
either small group classes or one-on-one coaching sessions. Not
surprisingly, group training is the less expensive alternative. Since the
field is so new, there are no statistics on average fees nationwide. As a
benchmark, though, Anderson says his classes generally run about $500 per
employee: $70 for the initial assessment, $30 for a client workbook, and $40
per hour for an average of 10 one-hour classes. Anderson also provides
one-on-one coaching, but, at $250 per hour, he says, most companies reserve
this option for executives. Despite the
expense, however, some providers argue that individual coaching may be more
cost-effective in the long run. “It can be tailored specifically to what that
person’s issues and dynamics are,” says W. Barry Nixon, SPHR, executive
director of the National Institute for the Prevention of Workplace Violence
in Lake Forest, Calif. “People aren’t going to reveal themselves as much with
other people around.” Whether the
anger management program consists of group training or one-on-one coaching,
most providers space out the sessions at weekly intervals. Some also offer
accelerated classes that cram several hours of training into a single day. At
times, there may be pressing reasons for choosing this route. For example,
Anderson has one large corporate client that takes its employees off the
clock until they complete their training. Obviously, it’s important to get
employees back to work as quickly as possible. “But if someone were to ask me
if I recommend this approach, I would say no,” Anderson says. “If the option
is there, it’s best to spread out the training over time, because one key to
good results is practicing between classes.” Anger
Management 101 At a typical
anger management session, you won’t see people analyzing how their parents’
botched approach to toilet training warped their personality. The focus of an
effective session is on teaching people life skills, not providing therapy.
Unlike depression and anxiety, anger is not recognized as a disorder in the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the main reference
manual of the mental health professions. “We are there
to help people unlearn negative ways of dealing with anger and learn more
positive ones,” says Nixon. “You don’t teach a person not to get angry—it’s a
natural emotion. The goal is teaching people how to channel their anger and
how to behave when they do get angry.” Most anger
management training incorporates skills such as stress reduction,
communication, conflict resolution and problem-solving. In theory, this
sounds like a good mix, but hard data on outcomes are lacking. “The
effectiveness of many anger management programs is simply not known,” says
Jerry Deffenbacher, a psychology professor at Colorado State University who
has researched anger for more than two decades. One possible
drawback to group classes is that it may be difficult to reach all of the
participants. For example, class participants may include both people who are
psychologically ready to change and those who are still in denial. “These are
two very different types of people,” Deffenbacher says. “They may be equally
angry, but putting them together in a common class may not be the best way to
go. Also, there’s good literature in other areas of psychology to indicate
that, if you aren’t ready to change, the intervention probably won’t take
hold.” Keep in mind
that anger management training is geared to folks with garden-variety anger
issues. At times, though, angry or irritable behavior may be a symptom of a
more pervasive psychological problem, such as addiction, post-traumatic
stress disorder or depression. Any anger management program should include an
initial assessment that sorts out people who are likely to benefit from anger
education from those who really do need therapy or medical treatment. Warning
Signs
How do you
know when an employee might be a good candidate for anger management
training? Some warning signs are relatively straightforward, such as being
chronically irritable, impatient, short-tempered, argumentative or sarcastic.
“Fellow employees may report that there is frequent conflict, or increased
tension or lack of cooperation,” Golden says. “There might also be increased
absenteeism or tardiness.” Be alert,
too, for signs of “cold contempt,” says Anna Maravelas, president of
TheraRising in Arden Hills, Minn., and author of How to Reduce Workplace
Conflict and Stress (Career Press, 2005). “At work, a lot of anger isn’t
expressed by yelling, because people don’t want to get fired or disciplined
for it.” Instead, some employees may express their anger in less direct ways,
such as backstabbing, rumormongering and turf wars. Angry
employees are found on every rung of the corporate ladder, from minimum-wage
workers to top-level executives. But according to Golden, one thing many of
these employees have in common is unrealistic expectations. “Let’s say
their firm is downsized, and suddenly they’re doing not only their own job,
but also the tasks of others who have left,” Golden says. “They maintain the
expectation that they will be rewarded for the extra time and effort.” While
that might be a reasonable expectation, it is not necessarily a realistic one
in the current economic climate. When
employees don’t get the rewards they expect, they can wind up disillusioned,
resentful and angry. Practical
Pointers Suggesting
that an employee go to anger management training is one thing. Getting the
employee to actually show up is another. In some
cases, you may be able to mandate attendance as a condition of continued
employment—for instance, if an employee has behaved in a way that would
otherwise be proper grounds for discipline or termination. But a caveat:
If the employee’s behavior might have been caused by a “mental impairment” as
defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), you’ll need to take
special care, warns Karen Karr, an employment attorney at the Steptoe &
Johnson law firm in Phoenix. “If an
employee acts violently, the employer may suspend or terminate that employee,
even if the behavior results from a disability. The ADA does not require an
employer to accommodate an individual who poses a direct threat,” says Karr.
But a dilemma arises when an employee whose behavior might be caused by a
mental impairment merely threatens violence. Says Karr, “In this case, the
employer may discipline the employee only if there is objective evidence that
would lead a reasonable person to conclude that the employee is a threat to
the workplace. Otherwise, the employer must accommodate the disability.” One way to
gather objective evidence is with a formal threat assessment. If the
assessment indicates that a particular employee is at risk for becoming
violent, the employee may be disciplined—or, alternatively, sent to anger
management training. Says Nixon, “If, as a result of the threat assessment,
it’s determined that this employee needs to work on anger issues, that is
something the company can require.” In most
cases, though, you’ll probably be strongly encouraging an employee to go to
training rather than actually requiring it. Often, the response you get may
come down to how you present the situation. “You wouldn’t want to enter into
a power struggle with an employee who already has anger issues,” says Steven
Uhrik, an HR consultant from Villa Park, Ill. Instead, ease into the
conversation with a few positive comments. Then state the problem, and be
ready to back up your points with documentation. “Base everything on
performance or attendance,” Uhrik says. Spell out the consequences for
continued problems as well as the potential benefits of addressing them. “Document
everything, but be careful about what you put in the employee’s permanent
record,” Uhrik adds. “Use nonjudgmental, behavioral descriptions of the
employee’s actions, and be able to demonstrate their effect on the
workplace.” Instead of writing that “the employee was referred to anger
management class,” Uhrik recommends using the phrase “appropriate company
resources were provided to the employee.” That way, if the employee’s file is
ever seen by anyone, including the employee or an opposing attorney, it
doesn’t contain anything that might be construed as defamatory. Finding
Help Finding
someone qualified to help your employees can be trickier than it sounds. The ideal is
a professional with substantial training and experience in anger management.
But since anger isn’t recognized as a mental disorder, strategies for
managing it aren’t a big part of the education that most mental health
professionals receive. Therefore, it’s important to make sure that people
advertising anger management services really have the requisite background. Anderson
& Anderson has a network of certified facilitators who use its model of
anger management. Also, a small group of facilitators and providers banded
together in 2004 to form the American Association of Anger Management
Providers. Both organizations offer directories of providers on their web
sites. In addition,
since many anger management providers take referrals from the courts, Golden
suggests calling probation offices or social services agencies for
recommendations. Look for a provider who not only has the necessary education
and experience, but who also does an initial assessment and has a
well-defined training approach. Once you’ve
found a qualified provider, don’t hesitate to refer employees when they need
it. “Sometimes, just the process of identifying anger as a problem is a
helpful experience for employees, because they’re clueless,” says Taranowski.
So, do the company hotheads—and the company—a favor, and clue them in to
anger management. Linda Wasmer Andrews is a freelance writer in Albuquerque, N.M.,
who has specialized in health and psychology issues for two decades. specialized in health and psychology issues for two decades. |
