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Last week, one of our co-workers was attacked at work... This incident showed us that the security in the building needs an overhaul.

April 2005, Article 9

Dear Office-Politics,

Last week, one of our co-workers was attacked at work, from an outside source. The details are sketchy, since they are not telling us anything. The police were called we were locked into our offices so they could look through the building and the building next door. The intruder was not found. This incident showed us that the security in the building needs an overhaul.

The co-worker who was attacked was not from my department but worked in the daycare that the organization run. The daycare is on the same floor. The intruder apparently dragged her into the bathroom and cut her wrist and neck area. The co-worker is fine, and now at home.

You can understand why the staff in daycare (they saw much more than I, and obviously knew the woman well) and for that matter in my department felt a little bit jittery and wanted some sort added security measure put into place.

The director of the organization held a meeting and decided that one of the doors that is always left open will now be locked. You would need a key to get into the office area. This was a temporary measure, but it made many feel a bit safer. Everyone was fine with the idea and was more than willing to put up with the inconvenience for a short time.

The director of my department was away the week this incident took place. She returned the Monday morning the following week.

Immediately upon her arrival, she started voicing very loudly her opinion about the locked door. Carrying on about how it's ridiculous and stupid and she's not going to do it. She phoned down to the maintenance person and asked him to make a duplicate key for her because she does not want to go into her purse to fetch her keys to open the door. She kept the door open. This enraged the Daycare staff and they locked the door again. She opened it again. Eventually she went to the director of the organization, after voicing again loudly her opinion on the matter. She came back in and said she had an announcement to make, 'the door will be open at all times'. The police said there is no threat to us or the community and that is all we need to know.

Again the daycare staff locked the door. A meeting was held and everyone voted unanimously to keep that door locked. For the rest of the day it continued with my director carrying on about this door very loudly and putting boxes and bags to keep the door open. She yelled to everyone that when she found out who was locking that door that their job will be on the line. She then went into the daycare department and yelled at the staff, telling them they are acting like children.

This went on for almost the whole week, ending with the director of my dept actually having the locked removed so that the door could not be locked.

This is just one incident where the director of my department has done things like that and berated staff and nothing was done. I know of several people who have complained about this woman and the response to ALL the complaints has been, ' We know what she is like, but she's making a lot of money for the organization and we are not going to do anything about it.' Yes they actually said that.

There is no human resources, there is nowhere we can go. People have complained to the director, to the assistant director, and still nothing is done. This woman runs roughshod over everyone. It almost seems like they are afraid of her.

I don't think writing this down will convey how deplorable her behavior was.

What avenues do we have, to stop this behavior?

Sincerely,

Troubled

Dear Troubled,

Your situation is a troubling one indeed.  It sounds like you have exhausted all avenues of complaint within your firm.  If there is no higher authority to whom you can appeal, and if you are unable to get any response at all from management there is little that can be done.

Two options occur to me.  You might try contacting the Ministry of Labour and consulting with their officials who oversee workplace safety.  The security risk of this unlocked door may or may not qualify as an issue that they would become involved with, they would have to tell you about that.   

Even if the Ministry of Labour is able to help with respect to this particular issue, however, the longer term problem seems to be the obnoxious behaviour of this individual, and management's refusal to rein her in.  This leads to the second suggestion, which is collective action.  

You might contact a labour union about organizing the office staff, so that you can have some say in the face of such abuse. Or you might organize the staff informally by going to confront management together.  You would have to decide going into such a conversation what action you are prepared to take to make an impact on management. Are your co-workers prepared to quit if nothing is done?

That leads to the final alternative, which is simply to leave.  While it is never an easy decision to make, too often people stay in job situations that are unhealthy because of stress.  Your paycheque cannot compensate you for days spent in fear of an outside attacker and an internal bully.

I wish you well with this situation.

Thanks for writing to Office-Politics.

Dr. John Burton

Dr. John Burton LL.B. M.B.A. M.Div. Ph.D. is an ethicist, mediator, lawyer and theologian whose passion is helping people and organizations create better relationships and stronger communities by being clear, committed and collaborative in their approach to ethics and conflict. John is currently located in Prince Rupert, B.C., Canada, working with Canada's aboriginal communities.