Insights / Workplace

Workplace Violence Still Tops Security Leaders’ Concerns: Reading the 2026 Benchmark

By Warren Pulley · November 8, 2026

Workplace violence is still the top concern of enterprise security leaders. Security Magazine's 2026 Security Benchmark Report, published November 3, says it has ranked first every year since 2021.¹ The report also shows that a meaningful minority of organizations do not assess threats to their most visible people at all.

What does the 2026 report show?

Respondents ranked their top risk concerns in this order: workplace violence; terrorism, extremism, and hate crimes; crisis management; then a four-way tie of security budget, civil unrest and targeted protests, and travel security and executive protection.^1,2 Insider threats appeared further down the top list.

Other findings worth noting:²

• Threat assessment frequency. Asked how often they assess threats to executives and other high-visibility personnel, 62% said continuously or in real time, 19% annually, 4% semi-annually, 4% quarterly, and 11% never.
• Executive protection maturity. 21% reported no formal executive protection program.
• Budgets. 62% reported a larger security budget than the year before; among those, the average increase was 5%.
• Guard forces. Of respondents using officers, 52% use both proprietary and contract guards, 43% contract only, and 5% proprietary only.
• Reporting lines. Most security functions report to a chief risk or legal officer, followed closely by operations.

My take: the concern is right, the coverage is uneven

Workplace violence has been at the top of this list for six straight reports, and I understand why. What concerns me is the 11% that never assess threats to their most exposed people. A threat assessment does not need to be expensive. It needs a front door for concerns, a small team that meets, and a written record of what it decided.

The reporting-line finding matters too. When security sits under legal, risk, or operations, security leaders have to make their case in the language of liability, cost, and continuity. Teams that can explain what a prevention program costs and what it reduces get funded; teams that can only describe incidents get cut.

What should organizations take from it?

1. Stand up or refresh a threat assessment team. HR, security, legal, and a mental health resource at minimum, with alternates for every seat.
2. Define what must be reported, including concerning behavior that isn't a rule violation.
3. Assess your visible people at least annually, and whenever their profile changes.
4. Train your officers, proprietary or contract, to report concerning behavior into the same system.
5. Measure prevention, not just incidents: reports received, cases managed, time to triage.

Further reading from my books

Integrated BTAM lays out the principles and a 90-day rollout for a program. The BTAM Case Workbook gives teams the forms and practice cases to run it. For security professionals who need to speak the language of risk and budget, see Badge to Business Suit. Related: What Is a Behavioral Threat Assessment?

Sources

1. Security Magazine, “2026 Security Benchmark Report,” Nov. 3, 2026
2. The Security Benchmark Report, November 2026 (PDF)

This is general information and commentary, not legal advice. Facts are as reported by the sources above on the dates shown.