How to keep staff who feel unsafe working in the community
Employees are afraid to move freely through public spaces due to real safety threats, which breaks the organization's hiring model of inclusivity. Leaders cannot reassure staff because the danger is real, leaving them unable to reliably retain workers for off-site responsibilities.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1shifting vulnerable employees to part-time or back-office responsibilitiesDid this help you?
- 2limiting public-facing activities based on employee comfort levelsDid this help you?
- 3providing staff with legal information, infographics, and protocols for law enforcement visitsDid this help you?
- 4placing vulnerable employees in safer or wealthier areas of townDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“She is a minority and no longer feel safe to move freely within our city.”source ↗
“I have several employees who are struggling so much because of the climate. And it sucks because they are afraid and there is no way to reassure them because they are actually not safe.”source ↗
“TBH, I’m pretty freaked out by this. It basically breaks our organizational model of inclusivity and belonging. If I can’t count on staff members’ feelings of safety, how can I hire them going forward?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2How to handle an employee who keeps threatening to quit
- 7What to do when a student threatens or assaults you at school
- 3Does keeping to yourself at work hurt your career?
- 6Will I get fired right before my company's acquisition?
- 2Terrified of losing my first job after college
- 3Constant fear of something bad happening to my kids