Speaker: Matthew W. Doherty, Managing Director, Workforce Risk Management, Sikich

On October 7, 2025, FAR launched its first-ever breakfast event with a critical conversation about workplace violence prevention. Matthew Doherty delivered a comprehensive roadmap for creating safer, more resilient workplaces.

With roughly 2 million victims of workplace violence annually in the U.S. and 68% of workers reporting they don't feel safe at work, this isn't just a compliance issue. It's a leadership imperative.

The key topics included:

• Defining Workplace Violence: Beyond physical assaults to include bullying, harassment, hostile environments, psychological abuse, domestic violence, and suicide
• The Economic Case for Prevention: Reacting to a serious incident is 100x more expensive than proactive prevention, with workplace violence costing $300 billion annually
• Legislative Trends: What nonprofit leaders need to know about California's groundbreaking SB 553 and similar movements in New York, Texas, and Ohio
• The 8-Step Blueprint: A comprehensive framework based on best practices from ATAP, ASIS International, SHRM, DHS, FBI, OSHA, and the U.S. Secret Service
• Building Your Team: How to form effective multidisciplinary threat assessment and management teams
• Creating a Culture of Safety: Why prevention is about culture-building, not just compliance, including training, reporting systems, and behavior-based threat assessment
• Proactive vs. Reactive: The critical difference between responding to incidents and preventing them through early intervention

Matthew emphasized that creating safer workplaces delivers benefits far beyond security, including enhanced workplace culture, improved retention and morale, increased reporting of concerning behavior, and reduced risk of lawsuits.

Thanks to everyone who joined us for this inaugural breakfast event at a new location! The engagement and thoughtful questions demonstrated the FAR community's commitment to protecting their teams and creating workplaces where everyone feels safe.

Download the presentation slides to review the complete 8-step blueprint and share with your leadership team.