Intimidation and Harassment: He Said, She Said

The FBI defines workplace violence as any action that may threaten the safety of an employee, impact his physical or psychological well-being or cause damage to company property. That can include threats, bullying, harassment of any kind, intimidation, domestic violence and stalking.

However the results of a recent survey by the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses and the FBI found that employee perception of what constitutes workplace violence breaks down very clearly by gender lines. The statistics on the left are from telephone interviews of 500 full-time employees conducted in October 2003.

While the survey recommends that all employees undergo a workplace violence training program, CSOs should be aware that men and women perceive workplace violence differently. “Men may have to be a little more sensitized to the fact that stalking and domestic violence does occur in the workplace,” says Eugene Rugala, supervisory special agent with the behavioral analysis unit of the FBI’s National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime.