Focused on Employees in Crisis

Sep 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Randy Southerland

The employee got the bad news early that morning from a human resources representative. He hadn't made the grade and was being terminated effective immediately. He gathered together his things and walked out into the large parking lot at Ferguson Enterprises' Virginia training center. It would be a long drive back to Georgia, and he didn't know how he could face his family with the hard news. He was out of job.

Somewhere on the drive south, he stopped at a bridge overlooking a rushing river below. He walked to the edge of the railing and looked down. Maybe it was time to end it all, he thought.

It was about that time that his cell phone rang. On the other end was a soothing voice that identified himself as a minister with Ferguson's chaplain program. Did he want to talk?

Fortunately, he did. Over the next hours he talked frequently with the friendly caller. He poured out his frustrations and his fears, and he listened when the chaplain told him there was another way.

Ferguson's chaplain program was born out of workplace violence and patterned after the police model, says its creator, director of security Scott Hewitt. The Newport News, Va.-based company's 20,000 employees have access to a national network of chaplains trained to deal with people in crisis.

“What we found was that, in a company our size, we have some people who either have some sort of crisis going on in their life or an issue with a mental illness or problems that are overwhelming to them,” Hewitt explains. “They sometimes end up being workplace violence issues, so we started looking for ways that we could prevent those issues from escalating.”

Prevention is at the heart of Hewitt's approach to security for the nation's largest distributor of plumbing supplies and pipes, valves and fittings; and the third-largest provider of heating and cooling equipment.

The chaplain program is also a reflection of Hewitt's concern for the welfare of all employees — including those who most would view as trouble-makers. Even when someone is terminated, their welfare may depend on continued compassionate help and counseling.

“The program transcends their employment,” Hewitt explains. “In other words, if somebody gets terminated or has to leave the job for some reason or another, they continue to have access to that program.”

The security director hit upon the idea when he observed the success of a chaplain program at one of Ferguson's sister companies. He was also familiar with the chaplain model frequently used by police and sheriff's departments in helping victims of violent crimes resolve issues of both physical and emotional injury.

“We like the police chaplains who are used to going on the suicide calls, the real intense, ‘somebody came home and found a murder’ kind of cases,” Hewitt says. “We wanted to have [chaplains] who are used to that intense, critical-incident stress management. So we followed that model, and we have people who are really good at those acute crises. They do miraculous things for us.”

In addition to counseling terminated employees, the chaplains have helped employees who are the victims of robbery and physical violence. By providing critical aid, Hewitt believes that the company is both helping them recover faster and also avoiding more workers' compensation claims.

“He is open to looking at various strategies to contain workplace violence other than the traditional ways that human resource departments usually deal with potentially volatile employees,” says Dr. Dana PiCore, a threat assessment expert with PiCore Enterprises, who has worked with Ferguson on these issues. “He is open to strategies that maybe he's never implemented before or has heard of. He's willing to try things and he's also very concerned about the employee himself or herself — even the one who may be the threat. That they get help is something you do not see very often.”

While he had some misgivings about adopting the program at first, the professionalism and effectiveness of the chaplains quickly won him over. They are provided by Chaplain Services International, Hewitt says.

“I wondered what the reaction might be or if people might think that we were bringing church to the workplace,” he recalls. “We found that there are a lot of large organizations that are turning to this model of giving people the kind of help they need when they need it.”

The success of the chaplain program is a reflection of Hewitt's vision of security as a means of heading off problems. It is an idea he has carried with him since he was a freshman at California State University at Los Angeles. He was one of a group of students hired by the campus bookstore to help control theft. They acted as plainclothes security observing the facility and looking for shoplifters.

Over the next three decades, Hewitt worked retail and then corporate security for companies including Atlantic Richfield. When that company shut down its Los Angeles offices after being acquired by British Petroleum, Hewitt moved into the industrial field with a plumbing supply company, which merged with other U.S. operations to form Ferguson Enterprises Inc.

At Ferguson, the facilities department handles physical security, such as guards, locks and access control. Hewitt's focus is on consulting. “We will go into a new facility or a new store, and they will use our standards, and the manager will call and say, ‘we have some unique problems here,” Hewitt says. “So we will do the consulting and then upgrade from there.”

Beyond the protection that technology can provide, he sees the backbone of the security program as preventive programs, such as pre-employment screening and drug testing.

“We look at it as the gatekeeper operation for the organization,” he says. “So we put a lot of our emphasis on those programs.”

Hewitt's security department is also leading the development of a business continuation and recovery plan for the company. This effort brings together various departments and organizations handling individual pieces of business continuity and emergency response under his organization. With many of Fergurson's facilities located along the Gulf Coast, disasters such as Hurricane Katrina brought a new urgency to preparing the company for disaster and being able to get back into business after a crisis.

“We talked to senior management every day about understanding that there are other threats out there that can be worse than a hurricane,” Hewitt says.

His approach to the job of security director goes beyond simply protecting the company's employees and assets from harm. He believes that the department must think and act much like any business unit — with an eye to the bottom line.

“It is just so important to be a contributing business person — as much or more than just a security guy. We must remember that we are in a business environment, and that the decisions that we make have to be sound business,” Hewitt says. “If we aren't contributing to the bottom line, we don't belong here. If we can't save money, if we can't prevent losses, if we can't recover money, then I don't think we belong in the business.”

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