Scores of workers funneled into New York city offices this morning just like any other weekday, hours after a lone gunman killed four people in a Midtown building.
While the site remains closed, nearby workers who spoke with Business Insider expressed sorrow over the shooting and anxiety about returning to their in-person jobs. Workplace-crisis experts, however, told BI they didn’t anticipate a lasting effect on office attendance.
“Unfortunately these things are happening all the time,” said Bo Mitchell, president of 911 Consulting, a Wilton, Connecticut-based provider of emergency-preparedness services.
Less than a year ago, UnitedHealthcare’s CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down in the same vicinity. There were 524 fatal injuries due to homicides in the workplace in 2022, up 8.9% from 2021, according to the latest figures available from the US Department of Labor.
“It’s a little bit eerie” and “weirdly feeling like a new normal,” said Virginia Gersham, who works at the Museum of Modern Art, close to where Thompson was killed.
Another local worker, Jim Santana, who works at an assisted-living facility in Midtown, described the incident as nerve-racking. He told BI he was still on his way to his job.
“Yeah, I’m going to go to work,” he said, “just to get my mind off of that.”
How impacted employers are reacting
The Park Avenue building where Monday night’s shooting occurred remains surrounded by barricades as police conduct their investigation. The property is home to several companies including investment firm Blackstone and the National Football League. In multiple interviews, Mayor Eric Adams said the NFL was the gunman’s apparent target.
Wesley LePatner, a star executive in Blackstone’s real-estate business, was among those killed. She was 43 years old.
Blackstone’s employees worldwide have been given the option to work from home for now and are being encouraged to take as much time off as they need, according to a person familiar with the matter. They are also being provided counseling and other resources, this person said.
Another building resident, accounting firm KPMG, told staff in a memo late Monday that its office there would be closed Tuesday and that they should work from home or from a different company office. The memo, which Business Insider has seen, was signed by Yesenia Scheker Izquierdo, the managing partner for KPMG’s New York office.
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Other companies directly impacted didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Employer support is crucial
Ross Eisenberg works a few blocks from both shooting locations and said despite the somber mood, it’s mostly been business as usual for him and his staff.
“There’s a strong pattern of New Yorkers putting things aside and staying strong,” Eisenberg, CEO of real-estate brokerage firm RDE Advisor, told Business Insider. “It’s not a matter of forgetting about it, but it’s not letting it interrupt their life.”
If workers are worried, though, leaders ought to reiterate their safety policies and protocols to help ease everyone’s anxiety, said Michelle Sinning, a principal at Bernstein Crisis Management in Mission Viejo, California.
“It should be made clear that this topic isn’t taboo, and the company will provide any resource necessary to help employees feel comfortable and confident returning to work,” she said.
It might also make sense to let employees temporarily work from home and allow them to ease back into the office, Sinning added.
“A gradual or phased approach would help employees acclimate,” she said. “Employees will need time to heal.”
For people who experience workplace violence firsthand, employers should go out of their way to provide support, added Mitchell, the emergency-preparedness executive.
“They need a lot of counseling, communication, and hand-holding,” he said. “They’re suffering from PTSD.”