(NewsNation) — Stress at work is something many Americans face on a day-to-day basis, but there are ways to keep that stress and anger from bubbling over into violence.
Gallup’s 2022 State of the Global Workplace report found that 44% of workers surveyed said they “experienced stress a lot of the previous day.”
NewsNation interviewed Kathleen Shea, a therapist specializing in workplace anger issues in the Chicago area, in search of solutions.
The interview has been edited and paraphrased for clarity and length.
NewsNation: What is workplace anger? And where does it come from?
Shea: My perspective is that workplace anger can be rational or irrational.
When three or four people apply for a position and only one person gets it, there’s some frustration and disappointment, which is rational.
NewsNation: What does irrational anger in the workplace look like?
Shea: The one description that hits it so well with me, as a clinical psychologist, I call humiliation fury — where employees feel humiliated in the workplace.
So, in this humiliation fury that I talk about, there’s a place where none of it is OK with that employee who commits a workplace violence act. Their perspective is that they’re the victim, the employer is the bully.
NewsNation: At an individual level, if you’re experiencing this kind of workplace anger, what do you advise someone to do in that situation?
Shea: I had a young man in my practice who was turning 26, which means he was off his parents’ insurance policy, and he needed to get on his own permanent employment status so he could receive health benefits, 401(k), etc. So I suggested that he talk to HR, that he talk to his boss and find out what more he could do to achieve that permanent employee status. And he did. So he was very proactive in caring about what he needed.
So in terms of what an individual can do with his anger, is to understand that it doesn’t belong in the workplace. But disappointment, frustration, and then action about disappointment and frustration is appropriate.
NewsNation: How can employees make sure their action is constructive rather than acting out inappropriately?
Shea: If they have anger in the workplace, they need to talk that over with a mental health professional, someone from HR, someone who they see every day in the workplace, a familiar face, a supervisor, perhaps a family member who’s working.
NewsNation: If a manager or somebody who is involved in running an organization notices that an employee seems to have anger at work or about work, what are some of the things they should do?
Shea: I start when they onboard people. So with today’s work environment, I think we all need to be aware of something called threat assessment. Is the person operating as a threat? Is the person intimidating other people? Is the person a bully to other people?
NewsNation: What are some mistakes that you see employers make when they’re trying to deal with workplace anger?
Shea: During the onboarding process, I don’t think employers spend enough time, No. 1, checking references, checking information from either their previous employer or academic backgrounds or requesting any kind of security check, drug screen background check — when they’re onboarded, I think that has to happen.
Also, looking at employees as expendable — well, if this one doesn’t work out, we just get another one. I think they forget that people want to come to work, to a workplace that they enjoy and are safe and happy in and can build some type of value system around the work they do.