SHRM26 Debrief · Modern Employee Experience · #2454

Safety Is a Talent Strategy: How HR + Security Protect People, Trust, and Brand

with Seth Krummrich

▶ Watch on the SHRM portal ~78 min, distilled

workplace safetycrisis managementHR-security collaboration

"Safety is not separate from the talent strategy. You are part of safety. Security works with HR. It has to be seamless."

What it was about

Safety is no longer a facilities function walled off from HR. In a world of rising geopolitical conflict, cyberattacks, and targeted violence against companies and leaders, HR is the essential partner to security before, during, and especially after a crisis. Organizations that fail to plan lose employee trust they may never get back.

By the numbers

$40 billion brand devaluation

Hit taken by UnitedHealthcare's brand after CEO Brian Thompson's assassination

3,000% increase in cybercrime

Rise attributed to AI and cryptocurrency, based on reported incidents (likely undercounted)

90% of world commerce moves by water; 11 major waterway choke points

Vulnerability of global trade routes highlighted by the Strait of Hormuz tensions

Key notes

Run a crisis response assessment: have employees fill it out cold, run a tabletop exercise, then have them retake it to reveal real gaps in personnel visibility, communications, and accountability.
Build a clear command structure and an approved communications channel (e.g., a designated Slack channel) before a crisis, and communicate it on a 'sunny day' so employees know where to look when something happens.
Sit down with your security lead and explicitly map out who owns what during and after a crisis so there's no ambiguity about HR's versus security's swim lanes.

The contrarian takeThe speaker argues that normalized outrage and cancel culture increasingly manifest as a genuine security threat. He points to public support and crowdfunded legal defense for Luigi Mangione after the UnitedHealthcare CEO assassination as evidence that violence against corporate leaders is becoming culturally normalized rather than universally condemned, unlike prior eras such as Ted Kaczynski's.

Take this back Monday

Do this for your team

Sit down with your security/facilities lead and map out who owns what during and after a crisis, then announce the designated emergency Slack channel to employees.

Say this in your next leadership meeting

Safety isn't a facilities issue anymore — HR has to be security's seamless partner before, during, and after a crisis, or we lose employee trust for good.

Watch out for

Treating safety as purely a physical/facilities issue ('the guy who locks the gates') instead of covering medical response, mental health, travel risk, and digital security.
Improvising crisis response instead of rehearsing a written plan: 'today is not the time for improv jazz, we have to stick with the sheet music.'
Assuming employees remember training or know the emergency communication channel without regularly re-communicating it.

Fun fact · Seth Krummrich

A decorated Army Colonel with 28 years of service, he was Chief of Staff overseeing all Special Operations across the Middle East and Central Asia.

If this landed, see these

↳ Go deeperFrom Disruption to Opportunity: Building Resilience in Your Workplace CultureTurns crisis-readiness into daily resilience habits leaders can practice before anything happens.⇄ The counterpointAre You Okay? Fight Burnout Using PlayRedirects the safety conversation inward: burnout, not outside threats, is the more common crisis.✦ The unexpected oneEmployee Experience & Technology: How Self-Service Portals, Mobile Apps, & Digital Tools Are Changing ExpectationsSame consumer-grade expectation, applied to crisis comms: one clear channel, not chaos.