There are two sides to it, I think. There’s the direct side. That’s to say, violence among employees themselves. That might be anything from verbal bullying to physical abuse. Employees can also face direct violence from customers or the public. The transport industry is a good example of this. Stress levels are often high on trains or buses and this can boil over into violence against staff. Assaults on London tube staff, for instance, have hit unprecedented levels in recent years.
The other side – the more indirect side – are situations where employees find themselves dealing with victims of crime. An obvious area is the insurance industry. Call-handlers are often among the first people that victims of crime speak to after suffering a violent incident. We do a lot of work with insurance companies therefore to ensure such claimants are dealt with in an appropriate and sympathetic manner.
Why is victim support important for companies?
Other than the self-evident altruistic and socially responsible reasons, I think there’s a strong business rationale for addressing the repercussions of crime.
Establishing clear procedures for the effects of violence in the workplace impacts morale, staff retention and attitudes towards an employer. This in turn influences customer satisfaction, a big driver of business performance. If staff are trained to deal with the impact of crime, then that will feed into the way they treat customers who have experienced violence or abuse. Making employees feel secure in their working environment also enhances customer service, thus pushing up customer satisfaction. You can see that it becomes a virtuous circle.
What does Victim Support offer businesses by way of support?
About ten years ago a large UK retailer came to us after one of their shop assistants was fatally stabbed. The company felt it didn’t deal with the situation properly, so they asked us to come in and help improve their processes and procedures for supporting crime victims. We developed a Crisis Action plan with them, which we helped embed through the organisation with bespoke training. We continue to work with them, training new staff and generally helping them to improve how they manage this risk.
Since that first instance, we’ve developed our approach and now offer a tailored service to companies of any size that are looking to equip their managers and staff with the means to deal with the aftermath of violent incidents at work. As well as undertaking a gap analysis, we make recommendations on how organisations can improve their management systems. If their managers need additional training, we provide that too.
What is your one message to companies looking to deal with the impact of crime?
Don’t be reactive. You can’t always prevent crime happening, but you can put systems in place that ensure your managers and employees are able to deal with its aftermath.
FACTOIDS
Workplace violence annually results in 3.3m lost working hours
Over half (51%) of assaulted employees expect some type of help or support from their employers
Ray Wilkinson
Chief executive, Victim Support WorkForce consultancy and training
Ray joined Victim Support in July after a wide ranging career in the financial services industry. His most recent post was with the British Quality Foundation, where he has been working with large private, public and voluntary sector organisations to help them improve their performance through the Business Excellence model.
Ray is the non executive chairman of Working with Words (a social enterprise dedicated to providing solutions for people with learning disabilities) and a non executive director of Dad’s Tie (a network of financial service professionals). He is also a Freeman of the City of London, a Liveryman of the Drapers’ Company, and a serving TA Officer.
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