Many companies won't hand out raises or bonuses this year. Many will ask their workers to do extra work to pick up the slack for colleagues who have been laid off.

So at a certain point, managers should expect employee rage to spill over into the workplace. Even without the high drama surrounding the departure of JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater, workplace anger is more prevalent during an economic downturn, and employers can take steps to help their workers cope, say experts in work-force training.

"Cost-cutting has led to a reduction in team size, but the expectations by management for employees and the work per employee has not decreased along with size. If anything, it has increased. This inverse relationship between layoffs and work expectations adds significant pressure to already challenged and stretched workers," said Peter Handal, CEO of Dale Carnegie Training, based in Hauppauge, N.Y.

He suggests companies regularly gauge workers' satisfaction and frustrations through surveys or by establishing open-door policies so that employees have a place to provide managers with feedback.

Also, he advises managers to regularly acknowledge hard work even through simple gestures like individual e-mails that "can go a long way to avoid discontent."

"Failure to monitor the discontent ... means companies are running the risk of ... missed productivity and dissatisfaction or public outbursts."

When an employee begins to feel stressed about the workload or issues with co-workers, the company needs to have resources available so he or she can talk about concerns without repercussions, said Janet Pfeiffer, a motivational speaker and author of "The Secret Side of Anger," who is based in Oak Ridge, N.J.

"One of the biggest complaints from employees is that they feel overworked, underpaid and underappreciated," she said. "Many of them consider the workplace environment to be somewhat hostile and abusive, especially nowadays with the economy as bad as it is."

Managers should complete sensitivity training so that they can "be sensitive to a feeling an employee has even if they don't agree with it, or believe the complaint is unfounded," she said.

Conflict resolution training for managers can help them assist employees who struggle with issues within themselves or with colleagues. For employees, she suggests training that helps them sort out their own emotions before they reach the anger stage.

"The No. 1 thing is not to take someone else's bad behavior personally. Once it's a personal issue, we become defensive and feel the need to retaliate. You need to be objective and emotionally detached," she said.

Ms. Pfeiffer has worked on-site with clients including AT&T, Carnival Cruise Lines, the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Postal Service to provide training sessions in anger management.

She teaches people when they feel stressed or overwhelmed to assess the situation, come up with a plan of action and ask for assistance if needed.

In the JetBlue incident, for instance, Mr. Slater could have "asked another flight attendant for help because he wasn't making any headway" with irritated passengers.

Ms. Pfeiffer cautioned against holding him up as a hero because it encourages people to imitate him with risky, devastating consequences.

"We need to send a clear message that this type of behavior is not acceptable and will not be tolerated."

"Money Q&A" and "Company Town" are featured exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.