Category Archives: Workplace

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Are Your Employees Preparing to Quit?

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A new study shows that changes in employee engagement and loyalty can indicate whether an employee is planning to leave, and these changes may start up to 9 months before an employee quits. In The 9-Month Warning: Identifying Quitters Before It’s Too Late, workplace data analytics firm Peakon and its research arm Heartbeat drew on polling of 30 million employees in 125 countries to help employers spot the signs and mitigate resulting risks.

Turnover and recruitment to replace departing employees is costly for companies. The hiring process can take weeks or months, and includes both direct and indirect costs from paying recruiters to staff time and lost productivity. Training new staff also takes time and money, and losing institutional knowledge when an employee departs can slow operations or, in a worst-case scenario, can even compromise client relationships or handicap major aspects of the company’s business. There can also be reputation costs, especially if the potential applicants see a stream of departures.

The study stresses that decreasing employee engagement—which it defines as “the level of personal investment an employee has in their work”—is an important indicator of imminent departure. Nine months before quitting, researchers found an employee’s engagement and loyalty to the company drop significantly. The study measured engagement by asking respondents, “How likely is it you would recommend [Company Name] as a place to work?” and measured loyalty by asking, “If you were offered the same job at another organization, how likely is it that you would stay with [Company Name]?”

Various factors contribute to a decline in engagement and loyalty, including in some counterintuitive ways. The study shows that respondents considered unchallenging work more of a reason to leave than having too much work. When their work is not challenging, employees’ sense of accomplishment begins to significantly drop 9 months before quitting, while their feelings about their workload stay relatively steady until their departure.

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Additionally, the study found that communication and relationships between managers and employees may be more important for retention than salary level or other factors. Employees are more likely to leave if they feel unable to discuss their pay with their manager than if they feel underpaid, and their manager’s support is more important than relationships with colleagues, feeling at home at an organization or believing in its mission.

When employees believe that they do not have opportunities for growth, they also become more likely to leave. This includes personal growth, advancement within the company and whether their managers encourage and provide pathways for growth.

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“When we feel our role is helping us develop into our best self, it can have an incredibly powerful impact on employee engagement,” the study explained.

Companies can address these factors in a number of ways, including offering training programs and growth opportunities, starting an employee recognition program, implementing more frequent or more in-depth employee engagement surveys and providing additional training for managers. One way companies can incentivize these steps is by tying executive pay and other rewards not just to financial performance, but also to retention.

By ensuring that employees feel challenged in their work, feel comfortable communicating with their managers and providing opportunities for recognition and growth, employers may reduce staff attrition and save on costly recruitment and training.

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Should Companies Ban USBs?

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Earlier this month, a Chinese woman was arrested after attempting to enter President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort while in possession of a number of suspicious electronic devices, including a USB flash drive. Apparently, the drive contained code that allows malicious software to run immediately after being plugged in, though it is still unclear what kind of malware it was. According to news reports, law enforcement also found nine other USB drives in the woman’s hotel room. If someone was able to connect a USB device to a computer on the resort’s network, attackers might be able to access all sorts of sensitive information and potentially gain control of machines on the network.

Historically, USB use has also aided insider threats, whether in the form of employees inadvertently infecting a corporate device or network with a found USB drive, or purposefully causing an infection or removing sensitive information via USB. In perhaps one the most high-profile of such cases, Edward Snowden reportedly removed NSA documents from a Hawaii facility on a flash drive before fleeing the country and providing those documents to members of the media.

Beyond the headlines, these devices continue to pose everyday risks. People mindlessly plug in flash drives, or carry their business’s most important documents on them that could accidentally be left in a hotel room or at a conference packed with corporate rivals. As companies evaluate their security policies and how to best secure their data, many are moving away from using USB or even banning them outright.

In May 2018, IBM did just that. The company’s global chief information security officer Shamla Naidoo said that IBM “is expanding the practice of prohibiting data transfer to all removable portable storage devices (eg: USB, SD card, flash drive),” and that the prohibition would apply to IBM operations worldwide, who will now rely entirely on the company’s cloud-based storage. Naidoo cited the danger of missing storage devices leading to “financial and reputational damage” as the motivation for the prohibition going forward, and acknowledged that the move may be disruptive for some departments and employees.

A 2016 University of Illinois study also showed that the now-proverbial nightmare scenario of an employee inserting a USB they found in a parking lot is actually realistic. After dropping 297 flash drives on a university campus, researchers found that people opened one or more files on 45% of the drives without taking any precautions, and that people moved 98% of the drives from the drop locations. The study’s authors noted that their results suggested that people may have picked up the drives and opened files motivated by altruism (finding the owner) and curiosity. But regardless of intent, simply plugging a flash drive into company computer can unleash any number of viruses, malware, or other cyber maladies on the company’s network.

Of course, doing away with USBs is also not a security panacea. As always, the user is the weakest part of any IT security plan, and even if a business does decide to ban USB storage devices and move their data storage to cloud-based options, employees should still be trained on password protection strategies and other security hygiene best practices. To make employee cyber-awareness training more effective, check out these tips from Risk Management.

67% of Hotel Websites Expose Guest Data, Study Finds

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According to new research from cybersecurity company Symantec, 67% of hotel websites are leaking customer reservation details and other personal information. Candid Wueest, the company’s principal threat researcher, tested more than 1,500 hotels in 54 countries, including low-cost to high-cost hotels, as well as both chain and independent hotels.

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symantec hotel data exposureWhen a customer uses a hotel’s website to book a room, the site usually creates and sends them a link so that the customer can directly access  and manage their reservation.

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According to Symantec, part of the problem is that third-party advertisers on hotels’ booking websites and web analytics companies (which track web traffic) can access customers’ bookings because they also get those links. This means that advertisers and analytic companies – including any potential malicious actors among their employees – could access and steal the information that the customer entered when booking a room, and even change or cancel the reservation.

Symantec also found that more than a quarter of the hotel websites examined do not send secure, encrypted links in their confirmation emails. Encrypted links prevent anyone trying to hijack a customer’s data from being able to see that data. If a customer received a confirmation email while using an unprotected WiFi (a public network in a café or an airport, for example), a cybercriminal could intercept that customer’s emails and use the unencrypted hotel booking link to access the customer’s booking. Some of these automatically generated links also contain details like customers’ email addresses in the web address, which makes accessing their information even easier for cybercriminals.

Additionally, many hotel websites are vulnerable to a type of cyberattack called “brute forcing,” where an attacker can use the customer’s email address and guess their booking number to gain access to the reservation and personal information. In some cases, Symantec found that hotel websites did not even require an email address to access customers’ reservation information via brute forcing. Though this method would not be useful to gain access to large amounts of customer data, attackers could use it to target individuals, like a specific CEO or conference attendee.

Wueest noted that hotels have thus far been slow to respond to these data exposure risks, and some have not responded at all. When he alerted the hotels’ data privacy officers to the problems in their sites, 75% responded, and those who did took an average of 10 days. Hotels and their information security staff should promptly assess their booking processes to ensure they are minimizing the risk of potential data leaks and breaches.

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By leaving these gaps in their websites’ security, they are endangering their customers and opening themselves up to risk, including potential liabilities and reputational damage.

Symantec recommends that hotels use encrypted links, and ensure that the automatic links generated do not include information like customers’ email addresses. It also recommends that customers use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs, services that protects users’ internet traffic) when booking or accessing their reservations using public WiFi to prevent any cyberattacker from intercepting any information that would provide a way in.

The report should also serve as a reminder that corporate employees’ personal devices and personal information are popular targets for cybercriminals and can be especially vulnerable to risks while traveling. Any time an employee exposes their devices to unprotected networks or, in this case, insufficiently protected websites, it leaves both the employee and their employer at risk. Even if an employee is using their own device to conduct business, it still endangers their employer because it may expose valuable business information. Cybercriminals have particularly used the hospitality industry as a hunting ground for such attacks, for example, targeting individuals using hotel WiFi, tricking them into downloading malicious software and stealing their information or spying on their internet activity.

Recent Apparent Suicides Highlight Need for Post-Violence Recovery Plans

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Three apparent suicides that occurred in late March reaffirmed the need for post-incident plans that address long-term trauma in the aftermath of workplace violence and mass shootings.

All three decedents had either survived a school shooting or had been related to a victim. Two youths who survived the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida died by apparent suicide just 13 months after a former student killed 17 and injured several more. Shortly after, it was reported that the father of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Massacre–in which a gunman killed 26 children and adults in a Connecticut elementary school–allegedly died by suicide.

As of March 31, 2019, the Gun Violence Archive confirmed 68 mass shootings for the year, and with statistics sure to rise, companies and institutions should be mindful of the delayed effects of workplace violence. Risk Management Monitor previously reported the number of suicides in the United States has risen in nearly every state between 1999 and 2016. Employers may use these tragedies to reconsider their own prevention and awareness efforts, and ways they can productively contribute to the dialogue and keep their workers safe.

Paul Marshall, managing director of Active Shooter and Workplace Violence at McGowan Program Administrators said post-incident trauma counseling is critical when it comes to preventing or reducing long-term effects.

“The trauma counseling for the mental anguish needs to be aggressively pushed, almost like the way post-traumatic stress disorder is for first responders,” Marshall said.

Counseling for physical and non-physical injury survivors and witnesses is something that could be missed when drafting a premises or employer liability policies, he said. In fact, Risk Management magazine reported that companies may not be aware of potential gaps in their coverage or that the limits of their coverage, when considering active shooter incidents, are insufficient.

Marshall said that instead of a duty to defend when it comes to a commercial general liability policy, insurers can address long-term trauma with a duty of care clause. This, he said, demonstrates an employer’s willingness to help victims from the outset.

“There’s a typically a year limit on these policies – in the insurance industry you need to apply some sort of time limit,” Marshall said. “But it’s still a year longer than you’d otherwise get. And there has been a huge uptick in these policies from a year ago.”

#BeThe1To is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s campaign to empower people to help those in crisis.

How Employers Can Help

Addressing post-incident trauma in an insurance policy is important, but equally paramount is the need to ensure that employers make training available for affected employees – regardless of where the incident occurred. Regina Phelps, president of Emergency Management & Safety Solutions, said that post-incident crisis management protocols should be added to workplace violence preparedness plans. Therapy and grief counseling are critical details of those protocols.

“Always give co-workers the option of attending any funeral or memorial service for the victims,” Phelps said. “Be aware of employees’ feelings of guilt – some might feel that they could have done something to stop the suicide or perhaps the victim told them of their plans, and they dismissed the comments. Incidents like that will make co-workers feel like it is their fault. Engage your employee assistance program [EAP] to provide education and training about the suicide threat and the complexities of the situation. If appropriate, support employees who start a tribute or fund to support the worker’s family.”

Phelps said that regular post-incident training can be just as crucial as prevention.

“It is essential to conduct regular exercises with the individuals responsible for the plan and its implementation. This could include the organization’s crisis management team as well as key departments such as human resources, security, facilities and communications,” Phelps said. “Plans are written in a vacuum. During most incidents, plans are not pulled out and people instead operate on muscle memory.  Exercises are the best way to ensure that the muscle memory will be helpful.”

Finally, Phelps stressed that employers communicate that their EAPs are typically available to employees’ families as well.

“Providing mental health services to employees and their families is essential,” she said. “The incident will affect not only the employee but their families. Ensure that counseling services are very convenient – offering an option at work, off-site as well as virtually is essential to make sure that employees get the help that they need. It is also critical to provide these same services to their immediate family.”

For more about active shooter preparedness, RIMS members can access a new professional report, “Active Shooter Preparedness and Your Organization.” To download the report, visit RIMS Risk Knowledge library at www.RIMS.org/RiskKnowledge.

If you or someone you know might be at risk of suicide, here’s how to get help: In the United States, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide also can provide contact information for crisis centers around the world.