Workplace safety is not only an issue crucial for the welfare of employees and employers but is also an issue gaining increased policy and scholarly attention. Few topics exist that are as important as the relationship between a safe workplace and the productivity of the employee. In the field of industrial and organizational psychology, there has been a plethora of research studies identifying the detrimental consequences to employee morale and performance caused by psychological or physical exposure to potential workplace dangers. There is an escalated discussion regarding sexual violence prevention, particularly within the workplace. It was reported that only a small percentage of individuals who experienced sexual violence reported it to an authority figure. This low level of reporting may point to a larger, more silent potential issue. Employees who work in large companies are not only subject to this similar potential threat as others but also may go completely unnoticed and unattended during the process of protecting and preventing future occurrences of sexual violence against them.
Simply controlling for the psychological detrimental effects of a stressed and potentially victimized workforce, it is clearly evident that this is an issue of critical relevance to meet the organizational goals of increased productivity due to decreased absence, turnover, hostility, violence, accidents, stress, negative public image, etc. Given employees’ potential to act both as victims of violent behavior and also as perpetrators of violent behavior, it is essential to prevent violence from both perspectives. In this research project, I will concentrate on the lesser-studied issue of sexual violence prevention. The focus will be on sexual violence against employees from perpetrators other than their coworkers. The purpose of this project is to fill a void in the body of research concerning workplace sexual safety lingering in the halls and offices of corporate America today. It states that a significant number of women and men will be raped at some point in their lives. In a majority of cases of rape, the victim knew the person who assaulted them. The population that is often overlooked as potential victims includes those individuals who experience sexual violence in the workplace.
Many different conceptions of productivity and effectiveness have underscored that “any workplace policy requires intervention, structures, and—above all—a change in behavior at every level within the organization.” Hence, such policies must be shaped by a worker-centered framework, rather than constructed as a moral obligation and enforced with criminal and liability laws. Our data re-emphasizes the need that a safe workplace is not just one that is not violent, but one that is “training, developing, and nurturing the workforce” and engaging productivity outcomes. In other words, the link between safety, belonging, value, and contributing to one’s full potential is indisputable.
Our study is guided by three objectives: What theory exists to inform a more profound understanding of the potential relationship between a safer workplace and employee productivity? Are there examples where professionals or activists have drawn on or used a linkage between a safer workplace and employee productivity to achieve successful prevention or when trying to convince others to support institutions in adopting these policies and procedures? If not, why not? And lastly, is it possible to develop new theory or add additional insights into existing theory regarding the potential linkage between a safer workplace and positive effects on employee outcomes? The initial question above focuses exclusively on sexual violence prevention.
An important reason for exploring this line of thinking is that those who are leaders in colleges and universities regularly cite the profit objection as a reason that can lead to their inability to adopt or implement policies or procedures that would be more helpful to victims of sexual violence. Our project is building on existing work that has attempted to approach the way in which practices related to domestic and sexual violence could be implemented to enable an increase in the return on investment in an organization. This is a second form of theory that should be re-engaged now that there has been a significant shift in technology, social work, and the combination of law and theory.
Our survey data, along with case study findings, reveal that workplaces dramatically differ in their safety. This research has found that workplaces with both focus group participants and national labor force survey data repeatedly show that different dimensions of safety—physical and organizational—are associated with more committed, positive, and productive workers, as well as workers who feel change can lead to both desirable work outcomes and organizational success. There was a consistent conclusion between these two sets of data: all participants wanted their employers to be accountable for providing them with both physical and organizational safety.
The quantitative analysis showed a statistical link between whether focus group participants were satisfied with the handling of complaints related to violence and their level of organizational commitment. Those who were satisfied reported more organizational commitment. Researchers conducted qualitative data analysis of sixty-six transcripts from twenty-four different workplace sites out of a possible one hundred twenty-five sites. Researchers coded this data using thematic analysis to derive general and specific findings. Within the findings, the cross-coded areas were referred to in two ways: where women’s groups had commonality with or to what management groups and unions reported. We have given a synopsis of the analyses here—they were firstly delineated according to employees’ groups or employers’ groups. Secondly, we reported the data on two major themes: conditions that impact productivity and conditions that changed workers’ behavior. We found this was a helpful organizational frame for presenting results in a way that is comprehensible to a reader who is not drowning in detail.
Safety can be difficult to measure directly because it is often measured by compliance with formal safety rules rather than underlying safety constructs. Yet one promising informal safety metric is the efficacy of informal strategies of intervention that target sexual violence before it turns into an assault. The efficacy of such strategies also belongs to the underlying safety qualities that contribute to creating the conditions for labor and, correspondingly, larger pools of labor. The focus groups demonstrate very positive effects of safety on employee morale and productivity, particularly as it comes to retention, focus, and judgment about promotions. They provide examples of how safety impacts productivity in the short term and, more importantly, in the long term when finding work or being emotionally tagged with the workplace as hostile. The mixed-method study directed at both employees and consumers belonging to the same firm helps demonstrate the beliefs, attitudes, and expectations of everyone really are important to job performance, particularly for long-term and strategic interests of the organization. Safety not only constitutes an important place to work in the present but also affects consumers because production quality is also likely to increase.
The study findings have implications for understanding the meaning of the relationship between keeping employees safe and enhancing productivity. Understanding this relationship can guide organizational leaders in determining when it is appropriate to invest in occupational safety and health and when and what alternative investments in production to promote productive outcomes may be more advantageous. Our findings indicate that organizations have an incentive to adopt a proactive approach to implementing safety rather than a reactive one predicated on avoiding liability through respective barriers. The study findings also suggest that changes to an organization’s optimal safety culture occur when risk perception and/or changes in the risk itself stimulate attention to safety concerns, to organizational investment in sexual violence prevention or ancillary devices to protect employees against sexual violence, or to the provision of paid sick leave.
Our study shows that safety culture is multidimensional, embraces the social context of sexual violence underreporting in the workplace, and includes both blue and white-collar employee perspectives. Including occupational safety in social program policies and benchmarks would promote a more equitable society. In addition, employers are encouraged to continuously assess if the protective devices and mechanisms they install are truly preventive from the viewpoint of their employees, solicit input, and revise the anti-sexual misconduct policy as indicated by employees. Overall, our research findings coalesce into the following context-aware recommendations for workplace policy and practice. To do so, employers are encouraged to adopt a comprehensive whole-of-work environment screening approach and make relevant job offers, which invest in preventive measures for protecting female employees, such as universal restroom access and a workplace culture that supports individuals who experience sexual misconduct.
The results presented here have several implications for workplace safety policies if organizations desire to invest in initiatives to ensure a safe campus, encourage attendance and course completion, and see increases in productivity and student success. Organizations need to assess their existing policies and their associated programs addressing the prevention of sexual violence. These interventions can be built on limited scope policies presently found in the majority of post-secondary institutions. Workplaces need to have comprehensive policies against sexual violence that target multi-leveled elements of creating a safe and productive environment. These policies should encompass training, messaging, and behaviorally focused interventions, the assessment of institutional climate, filing reports, reporting incidents to local law enforcement, and engaging the institution in larger community and statewide prevention initiatives.
In light of some research that suggests women are more likely than men to not accept and thus report incidents of sexual harassment in the workplace, safety interventions should go beyond these methods to services that provide resources and support to employees. For example, a private industry leader started a program as a long-term, ongoing commitment to provide associates and customers with a safe, respectful, harassment-free work and shopping environment. Part of the program includes a company policy that directly addresses trust, safety, and violence. The vision is based on the fact that all employees should be treated with respect and should not fear anyone or anything in the workplace.
The company states that employees have a right to work in an environment that is free from hurtful words, bullying, threats, physical violence, and behavior that makes an employee feel unsafe. The company owns a help line to address questions and reports related to initiatives. Research suggests that these initiatives can be effective in creating a sense of fairness, one that encourages employee productivity. Still others suggest that a focus on workplace safety should be beneficial not only in changing policy but also practice.
Given the findings from this research project, what are some practical suggestions that we would offer to organizations? Following are a few general strategies for prevention. An organization must reveal knowledge of which individuals have been trained, what that training included, and that a safe workplace culture must be adhered to. This last piece will be critical, and it pervades training, accountability, early intervention, and post-incident supports. Therefore, we recommend creating organizational policies that foster a safe work environment, provide orientation to new staff specific to safety protocols and expectations, provide annual or biannual training and ongoing education for all employees, and support internal accountability for all staff, including supervisory staff, who are not following organizational safety standards.
Recommendation 1: Employee Training Programs. Create, implement, and require the completion of regular employee training programs on workplace safety. These programs should also emphasize information about the scope of sexual violence in the workplace, the workplace culture accountability of everyone to their safety adherence both for self and others as part of being trauma-informed, as well as supports available for staff to prevent sexual violence through early intervention, learn how not to perpetrate sexual violence, and provide support following a sexual violence incident.
Recommendation 2: Regular Assessments of Workplace Safety. Implement program evaluation measures to continually assess the safety measures in place and adapt to new workplace circumstances or dynamics that need to be addressed promptly.
Recommendation 3: Early Intervention. Implement formal and systematic strategies for early intervention, including employer supports and employee assistance program supports.
