SHRM26 Debrief · Modern Employee Experience · #2213

Red Flags, Quiet Risks: HR Strategies for Detection, Documentation, and Trauma-Informed Response

with Amy Jauman

▶ Watch on the SHRM portal ~82 min, distilled

high-conflict personalitiestrauma-informed HRworkplace investigations

"It isn't a big blow-up that causes the most damage. It chips away at your culture."

What it was about

High-conflict personalities in the workplace cause slow, cumulative damage rather than one dramatic blow-up. HR professionals must learn to observe behavioral patterns (not diagnose), document early, and use trauma-informed practices to intervene before a breaking point forces reactive action.

By the numbers

9% to 15%

estimated percentage of adults in the United States who fall somewhere on the spectrum of high-conflict personality disorders (narcissism, borderline, sociopathy, paranoid, histrionic), per the book 'Five Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life'

Key notes

Focus on observable behaviors rather than attempting to diagnose someone as a narcissist, sociopath, or psychopath: diagnosing a coworker is both inaccurate and legally risky.
Start documentation the moment you notice a minor pattern (a 'yellow flag'), not after a major incident, so you have a paper trail if action ever becomes necessary.
Translate the cultural cost of a high-conflict personality into language leadership already understands: tie it to turnover of top performers, productivity loss, and financial risk, since leadership often only sees the numbers.

The contrarian takeThe speaker argues that documentation of a departing high-conflict employee's 'aftermath' matters as much as removing them. Terminating someone without proper reporting (e.g., to a licensing board) can inadvertently let them cause the same harm at their next employer — meaning that simply firing the problem person isn't the finish line HR often treats it as.

Take this back Monday

Do this for your team

Start a private note the moment you spot a 'yellow flag' behavior: don't wait for a blow-up to begin documenting.

Say this in your next leadership meeting

The real damage isn't one big blow-up: a high-conflict personality chips away at culture over time, so we document early, not after a crisis.

Watch out for

Waiting for a single big, explosive incident before intervening instead of acting on early red flags.
Assuming a person is fine simply because they are a high performer, which causes leadership and HR to excuse or overlook concerning behavior ('they're so good at their job').
Diagnosing coworkers with clinical labels (narcissist, sociopath, etc.) instead of documenting specific behaviors.

Fun fact · Amy Jauman

She co-wrote a true-crime book on the Dirty John case and holds a graduate certificate in crime analysis from Boston University.

If this landed, see these

↳ Go deeperInclusion Under Pressure: Stress-Testing Diversity Strategies for Legal Resilience and Business ImpactTakes "document early" into a full legal-defensibility framework for stress-testing risk in advance.⇄ The counterpointThe Heart of the Matter - Why the Work of HR MattersPushes back that documentation matters less than knowing people individually, one at a time.✦ The unexpected oneThe Benefit That Quietly Shapes How Work Gets DoneSame early-detection logic, but for eye exams: catch small signals before real damage.