Generational differences in retail workplace safety 

EHS On Tap Podcast — With Baby Boomers retiring and Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z taking the helm, Bailey Whitsitt, Compliance Counsel at Traliant, says retailers must rethink how they approach workplace safety to meet the needs and expectations of these younger generations.  

“Our polling reveals that generational differences among retail employees affect how they approach safety and their attitudes toward learning. Organizations need to understand these differences to enhance workplace violence prevention programs and create safer work environments.” — Bailey Whitsitt, Compliance Counsel at Traliant

Whitsitt cites Traliant’s “Retail Report: 2024 Workplace Violence Prevention” which looked at 500 full-time U.S. retail employees from organizations with more than 100 employees, conducted in October 2024. Addressing violent workplace incidents and increasing state laws to prevent them, Whitsitt says the report shows that employers cannot afford to overlook workforce age when developing programs to address prevention training and reporting. 

Among the retail report’s findings, nearly half of Gen Z retail workers (49%) said they would only report workplace violence if they could make the report in an anonymous manner and more than a third (38%) have witnessed workplace violence happening to another employee in the last five years compared to 13% of Baby Boomers, 20% of Gen X and 22% of millennials. 

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