by Brianna Crandall — July 22, 2015—When looking for a new job, it is not unusual to take job security into consideration. But how often do workers think about security on the job? A new survey from human capital solutions provider CareerBuilder looks at how safe workers feel in their workplaces and how well they feel their companies work to ensure their security.
The survey indicates the possibility of a lack of communication of already existing emergency plans by executives, security managers and facilities managers to employees and tenants in some workplaces.
According to the survey, while the vast majority of workers (94%) feel their office is a secure place to work, nearly a quarter of workers (23%) say they would not know what to do to protect themselves if there were an emergency in their office that posed a physical threat.
The national online survey was conducted on behalf of CareerBuilder by Harris Poll between February 11 and March 6, 2015, and included a representative sample of more than 3,000 full-time U.S. workers across industries and company sizes.
When asked about their feelings of security in regards to specific forms of threat, three in ten employees (30%) do not feel their workplace is well protected from a physical threat from another person, and the same percentage (30%) feels their workplace is not well protected from a digital hacking threat.
Most workers (85%) feel their workplace is well-protected in case of a fire, flood or other disaster, and 83% feel their workplace is well-protected from weather-related threats.
One in five workers (21%) report their company does not have an emergency plan in place in case of fire, flood or other disaster, and 1 in 4 (26%) say the same of extremely severe weather. Even more workers (40%) do not believe their company has an emergency plan in place in case of a physical attack from another person or a technology security breach.
“Ensuring a safe and secure work environment should be of the utmost importance in any workplace,” says Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer of CareerBuilder. “Keeping employees protected means not only putting measures in place to keep them safe, but making sure employees are aware of the policies and procedures they can protect themselves, too.”
