Jo Anne Moeller
The murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, on December 4 in Manhattan has underscored the urgent need for boards and compensation committees to prioritize company executive and employee security programs. Security is a critical component of total compensation, essential for safeguarding personnel. This essay considers how this event is
likely to stimulate a heightened focus on expanding executive and employee security measures, balancing practical considerations with liability cost management, operational continuity, and
corporate culture.
Key Insights
- Within the bounds of reasonableness, employers have an ethical and legal duty of care
to protect employees while they are at work or traveling on business. - Senior leaders and the board should develop a company philosophy for executive and
employee security management that aligns with company vision, mission, and values,
akin to a compensation philosophy. - Decision-makers require approved resources and data to assess the degree and type of
risk to executives and employees. This proves critical in determining the level of
expenditure warranted for risk mitigation actions such as security details, private
transport, and facility security systems.
Company Responsibility for Executive and Employee Security
Boards and management should undertake a complete review of corporate security policy to ensure the physical safety of all employees, especially those with public profiles.
Companies can fulfill their legal and ethical responsibility to protect the health and safety of executives and employees (duty of care) and mitigate significant financial risk through a security
program review that includes the cost of potential legal actions, loss of key personnel, and loss of business operations. The review also becomes an opportunity to strengthen the company culture by including the company’s values in the decision-making process on security program design. Values such as trust, accountability, and employee care can be demonstrated by identifying actions to mitigate potential workplace hazards, updating protocols for safe travel, and refining safety training programs.
Some employers may want to go further by providing optional education on employee safety outside the workplace, plus resource directories for home and personal travel safety training and information. A more comprehensive security program can demonstrate commitment to a culture of caring and support for employees.
Additionally, companies may want to expand the communications contained in the proxy statement and employee handbook to reflect the company’s philosophy on which security benefits it provides to whom and under what circumstances. This proactive measure can avoid the rise of negative employee reaction to executive security perquisites and additional process steps required for employees to perform their jobs.
Company Philosophy for Executive and Employee Security Management
Similar to the need for the organization to have a compensation philosophy that aligns with corporate vision, mission, and values, an employee security management philosophy will guid security benefit communications and budgetary expenditures. Senior leadership should review any current philosophy as part of a security management review in light of the recent events in New York City.
Going forward, senior leadership may be faced with a number of potentially emotional and costly decisions in assessing the level and type of security to ensure the safety of its executives and employees. Unlike including competitive market position in a compensation philosophy, enumerating competitive executive security benefits will be more challenging considering it is a limited practice with few comparable data points to benchmark against. Only 18% of S&P 500 and 5% of Russell 3000 companies disclosed providing personal and home security as a CEO compensation perquisite, according to 2024 data from the TCB Benchmarking platform, powered by ESGAUGE. However, in an increasingly polarized political and social climate, the rising risk of violence to executives and employees makes it essential to have a company philosophy to guide decisions on who will receive company security, when company security will be provided, and how to manage the cost for employee security.
Transparent criteria for determining which roles will be offered company security and to what degree as part of a total rewards package will facilitate program design. It will also provide answers to employees’ questions about why only selected positions have benefits for private
travel and bodyguards, for example. Companies can incorporate the criteria into the job evaluation process to mitigate potential negative employee reaction. Personal security eligibility can be explained by job responsibilities rather than as an elite executive perquisite.
Executive and Employee Security Cost and Risk Management
It is important to consider the cost of executive and employee security programs as the expenses can mount quickly depending on the number of people who will require personal security, private transport, home security, and other related benefits per the company criteria to merit select security benefits. To manage these costs, companies should work collaboratively across the C-Suite, including chief human resources officers (CHROs), chief legal officers, and chief information officers.
CHROs should partner with their C-Suite colleagues and the board to ensure clear accountability and funding for security within the company. Additionally, they might offer awareness workshops aimed at adhering to security protocols as this will reinforce the importance of employee care. Jobs can be designed to minimize the number of executives and employees subject to security risk due to their work. IT can advise on the effective use of security technology and other cost-effective technical tools to minimize the need to hire security personnel, while risk management might also reduce the cost of employer liability insurance for security failures.
Employee security is a core benefit within company security and is typically addressed through the employee handbook and internal communications as needed. External communications on company security benefits are primarily disclosed in the proxy statement as an executive perquisite.
To maximize the perceived value of the security benefit expenditure, senior leadership can communicate the company investment in employee security as a benefit open to all employees based on a risk assessment of their specific role rather than as an executive perquisite. In summary, a company’s review of its executive and employee security programs represents an opportunity to update risk management of the company’s operations, support the company’s culture, and communicate the full value of dollars invested in security programs.
About the Authors
- Jo Anne Rioli Moeller, Senior Fellow, Human Capital
- Rita Meyerson, EdD, Principal Researcher, Human Capital
- Allan Schweyer, Principal Researcher, Human Capital
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