In Depth

Fear Factor

By Daintry Duffy

Page 4

Now that security is a front-burner issue, it's time to take advantage of employee interest and cultivate it. Community-building can be achieved in the workplace by making employees a part of the security initiative, giving them specific tasks when security measures are heightened. Perhaps CSOs could even offer employees the opportunity to beta test security measures before they are enacted. "We're in a world now where we don't want to sit and wait and respond to what happens," says Dr. Gary M. Jackson, a former research psychologist with the Secret Service and current president and CEO of Psynapse Technologies. "We want people to be concerned and aware, and we want them to report things that seem out of place. And it turns out that people want to do it. That way they don't feel like the helpless victim. It gives them something to do."

CSOs can also generate trust and goodwill by acknowledging that security at home and in the workplace are no longer two separate issues. "I think that [security organizations] still have the mentality of work versus home, but terrorism blurs all that," says Butterworth. "The same hazards are faced by people on a business trip, in their offices and at their homes. What we do in terms of preparation has to be reevaluated." (See "Avoiding the Road to Perdition" at www.csoonline.com/printlinks.)

In times of crisis, managers need to have different expectations for employee behavior and productivity. Employees often are less productive, work shorter days and take longer lunches as a coping mechanism. "Smart employers know that when something acute happens, productivity goes down for three or four days," says Dea. She suggests that CSOs use that as an opportunity to get people together to discuss their fears.

Without alarming employees, CSOs should communicate with them and do some planning around what would happen if a local or widespread security crisis caused people to be stuck at work. What kinds of services would the company be able to provide for them on a temporary basis? Many security departments already give employees guidance on maintaining IT security when they're at home. Employees will also appreciate advice that pertains to their physical security outside the office.

Of course, even in times of relative calm, CSOs should make an effort to meet with employees one on one, since employees will often privately express opinions and emotions about the company's security level that they wouldn't say in a group.