Last week we wrote the growing trend of workplace violence. This week, let’s explore its effect on business.
The Impact of Workplace Violence
The impact of these types of confrontations can be wide spread within an organization. For example, there is a real cost associated with these incidents. In a 2012 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, 37% of the businesses reported a loss of productivity, while 34% of the companies noted staff replacement costs as a result of the clash.
Over half of the businesses claimed that there was an additional cost associated with these events in the form of management time and expenses.
Violent episodes also affect other employees. Of those businesses that participated in the survey, 29% stated that morale decreased as a result of these clashes and 28% received complaints about employees feeling less safe and secure. The same number of companies also cited a drop in productivity and less trust amongst employees.
Company size does not seem to be a determining factor either, though larger companies do have a higher rate of workplace violence. For example, 33% of small businesses with 100 to 499 employees reported an incident. For larger companies, 91% of them with a staff of 25,000 or more experienced some type of violent skirmish!
What’s Being Done?
These numbers are already staggering to consider and nearly half of the organizations surveyed are taking these threats seriously. Forty-seven percent report that they have a Zero-Tolerance policy in place when it comes to these types of incidents, resulting in immediate termination. However, that means 53% of business don’t have a policy in place, or aren’t sure how to proceed.
One of the ways businesses can reduce workplace violence is with onsite security. The professional security offices with American Security Force are trained to deal with threats and violence in the workplace. Often their presence alone is enough to deter most incidents from taking place. But when they do, our security guards can make sure those involved are isolated from the rest of the workforce and escorted from the property if needed.
For more information about how American Security force can keep your workplace safe and secure, call us at 877-722-8585.
