Fifty-two percent of employers have updated or implemented a “zero tolerance” workplace violence prevention policy in response to mass shootings at U.S. workplaces in recent years, according to the results of a survey conducted by labor law firm Littler Mendelson.

Researchers surveyed 844 in-house counsel, human resources professionals, C-suite executives and others from a variety of industries for The Executive Employer Survey, released on July 12. Other highlights from the survey:

• 40 percent of employers have developed an emergency response plan, as well as a pre-employment screening process.
• 38 percent have conducted employee training sessions about how to recognize and respond to a potentially violent situation.
• 33 percent have performed a safety and security audit.
• 28 percent have conducted active shooter response training.
• Eleven percent of respondents said they have taken no action because violence is not considered an issue at their workplace, while another 1 percent have not acted for fear of violating disability or discrimination laws.

In addition, the survey found that more than a third of employers at large-cap organizations (34 percent) said they use, or are considering using, data analytics to help make workplace decisions, such as hiring and performance evaluations.

Similar to the 2015 survey, respondents identified employee use of personal devices for business purposes as their greatest technology-related challenge in the workplace. However, this percentage dropped from 51 percent in 2015 to 42 percent in 2016 as employers have increasingly implemented bring-your-own-device policies.  

http://www.littler.com/files/2016_littler_executive_employer_survey.pdf