QUESTION - VIOLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE
Scenario: "Frustrated, Fired Frank"
Frank Lee worked for Kirby Tires Inc. for the past 18 years. He started out on the assembly line making tires and was promoted to foreman around 6 years ago. Frank has a wife and three kids, two of whom are in college. Frank's job performance was excellent up until last year. Last Christmas his problems began. His parents left his house after Christmas dinner. On their way home, their car was blindsided by a drunk driver. Both of his parents were killed.
Frank hasn't been the same since. The production rate of his line dropped off by 19%. He called in sick 13 times over the past 6 months. He was late at least 30 minutes every day for the past two weeks. Further, his attitude was very low; he never smiled, and seemed to be totally depressed. The company completely ignored the performance problems, because of his long productive history with the company. Nothing was even mentioned to him before last week. Late last week he received the following notice:
Dear Mr. F. Lee:
It has come to my attention that you have been repeatedly late in getting to work over the past few days. If this behavior continues, you will be immediately terminated.
Sincerely,
Kyle Rogers, HR Director
Frank came in late on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon he received the following:
Dear Mr. F. Lee:
It has come to my attention that you have been repeatedly late this week as well. Your employment at Kirby Tires is terminated, effective immediately. All benefits you receive will be stopped by week's end.
Sincerely,
Kyle Rogers, HR Director
Frank did not handle the firing very well. On Wednesday morning, Frank showed up for work, on time by the way, with a shotgun. He killed Kyle Rogers and then turned the gun on himself. The company is in shock.
Questions:
1) If you were the HR Director, would you have handled this situation differently?
2) What should the company do to reduce the likelihood of this ever happening again?
3) What steps would you take to help the company recover from such a tragic incident?