For decades, we have worked with clients to succeed beyond their expectations by focusing on Employee Engagement, “being on the same page” and working collaboratively. When asked to speak at Rotary’s International Peace Conference on January 16, 2016, Noal McDonald and I researched the impact of the lack of Peace in the Workplace Some of the statistics we found were more than interesting:
- 2 Million US Workers Victims of Workplace Violence Per Year: US Dept of Labor
- Emergency Nurses Association Study—One Week
- 43% of Nurses Verbally Abused
- 11% of Nurses Verbally and Physically Abused
- 1% of Nurses Physically Abused
- 30% to 43% of Managerial Time is Spent Mediating Conflict
- 65% of Performance Problems Result From Strained Employee Relationships
Interestingly, Engagement and Owner/Management Engagement are key to helping create peaceful work environments and “being on the same page.” What can you do to help create healthier work environments? Please see this link to government information comparing government and private sector violence.
The feedback at the Conference was exceptional but it was a Peace Conference, why wouldn’t it be. So, to get another perspective, we presented a peace in the workplace like the presentation to 35 attendees of a totally different audience. They were all business-related individuals from varying professions and diverse corporate and non-profit entities. In a survey, 80% said that Peace was an important consideration in their organizations. It was a lively interactive mini-workshop so I would think the percentage was realistic. The reception from these two presentations and our work in engagement and conversation/dialogue has us really thinking about how we might integrate peace initiatives in our business re-engineering projects.
A sobering thought is that the San Bernardino terrorist act was Workplace Violence. That might indicate that violence of that magnitude could happen anywhere.