Workplace Violence Prevention Training: Antidote to the Great Detachment

In late 2024, Gallup, the polling and analytics firm, coined the term the “Great Detachment” to describe its survey findings showing historically low levels of employee engagement. 

Many employees surveyed reported feeling that their employer did not care about their well-being. But, instead of getting another job, as that has become harder to do, they mentally checked out.

If the “Great Detachment” continues, it could impact employers in two significant ways: by lowering productivity, and make it more difficult to implement operational improvements. 

Gallup suggested that employers reset employee expectations, and create better employee connections with the company’s mission to remedy the “Great Detachment”.

But, there’s a simpler, and more direct way to show your employees that you care about their well-being. Provide them with training in strategies to avoid physical harm from workplace violence. 

Safety is a primal need. So helping employees feel safer connects with them on a fundamental level.

Plus, in doing so, you’ll be complying with California’s annual workplace violence prevention training requirements. 

In this piece we’ll look at why this type of workplace violence prevention training is a great antidote to the “Great Detachment”.

When it comes to violence prevention, most employers simply don’t have the experience with violence to know what strategies do and don’t work.

Take the guesswork out of implementing an effective workplace violence prevention program that keeps employees safer and complying with California’s workplace violence prevention law with my California specific workplace violence prevention checklist. I developed this checklist based upon my 30 years of investigating violence in the workplace and community.

Safety is A Basic Human Need 

Safety is one of the 5 basic human needs according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It’s ranked as second in importance only behind food and water.

According to Maslow, feeling safe is essential for mental and emotional well-being. Feeling safe allows individuals to thrive and function optimally.

In his theory, Maslow included the elements of physical security, and protection from threats, was part of safety needs.

An employer that provides employees with the ability to feel safer is directly contributing to her basic human needs. And that demonstrates that as an employer you are truly concerned about your employees’ well-being. 

And the best way for employers to help employees feel safer is to train them in strategies to avoid physical harm from workplace violence. 

The Great Detachment and a Workplace Violence Incident Impact an Organization In Similar Ways 

Just like the “Great Detachment”, workplace violence causes employees to feel unsafe and unsupported by their employer. 

So they too, mentally check out. As a result, employers who have even a single incident of workplace violence have higher rates of absenteeism, and their employees are less connected to the organization and to their co-workers, harming workplace communication. All of which, just like the “Great Detachment” lessens productivity.

Building a Community Within the Workplace 

During the height of covid, I conducted a training for the statewide staff of a United States Senator. Many of the staff were feeling besieged from being regularly confronted by angry constituents at their office, and even at the neighborhood grocery store. That kind of stress can easily lead to burn out, and to employees checking out.

Because they worked for a US Senator, each of those employees had already received workplace violence prevention training from the US Capitol Police. But, that training was general in nature. It was the same training provided to each and every employee of a Senator, and as a result, did not address the specific safety hazards they were now facing.

The Senator, recognizing the role of safety in building a workplace community, understood that workplace engagement is a two way street. 

And taking steps to ensure his employees’ safety, would help them feel a part of the organization, and their work community.

He also understood that providing his employees training in strategies to avoid physical harm from violence that was specific to the safety hazards they faced, was more effective than a general, boiler plate, training.

The “Great Detachment” is about employees not feeling a part of a bigger community. It’s about feeling unsupported, and disconnected from the workplace. 

Training in strategies to avoid physical harm from workplace violence not only shows employees you care about their safety, but by having them learn together they build a sense of community too.

Training Requirements and Matching Employees’ Specific Safety Needs Through Engaging with Your Employees

California requires employers to identify the specific safety hazards their employees face, and each year to provide employees with the safety training and tools they need to reduce their risk from those specific safety threats.

To do so requires understanding the four source types of workplace violence, and how each of those source types can impact your employees. And then based upon that understanding, to identify the appropriate strategies to avoid physical harm from violence that originates from those violence source types.

The best way to do that is to ask your employees what they are most concerned about. And what they believe is the best way to address those safety threats.

California requires this level of employee engagement. And if you think about it, it is the very best way to engage with your employees. And when you engage with your employees, you are creating the antidote to the “Great Detachment”.

Whether it’s a single topic lunch and learn, training in strategies to help your employees avoid physical harm from workplace violence, or assessing the specific safety hazards your employees face and helping remediate those risks, I can help you take the guess work out of keeping your employees safe and complying with California’s new workplace violence prevention law. Schedule a call now.