Jan
Smart companies take steps to keep their employees healthy - health insurance, dental insurance, wellness programs. It’s not just the right thing to do, it makes good business sense. A new trend in Corporate Wellness is in-house self-defense seminars.
These seminars teach important life-saving skills and should become regular occurrences in many organizations’ wellness programs. Other than the primary benefit of teaching your employees to physically defend themselves - there are significant secondary benefits to self-defense training.
Here are 6 great reasons to include personal protection (self defense) training in your organization:
1. Employees who feel safer suffer less stress. This may translate into less stress related illness, less lost time due to illness, and higher productivity. This can mean a long-term realized cost savings to an employer.
2. Self Defense training can mitigate workplace violence. The phenomenon of workplace violence is growing at an alarming rate around the world. The costs associated with dealing with workplace violence after the fact are astronomical. A small investment in quality training today can prevent catastrophic losses in the future.
3. Self Defense training can enhance teamwork. Properly structured training, as offered by groups like MTS, brings coworkers together in problem solving exercises. Emotional and psychological barriers to personal achievment can be explored in a supportive environment, with the help of coworkers.
4. Martial Arts based training improves employee morale and discipline. Studies by the US Marine Corps have shown that their regular martial arts program created greater self-discipline, stronger work ethic, and more psychologically well-adjusted Marines.
5. Self-Defense training increases creative problem solving. Self defense training helps employees learn to overcome obstacles creatively. This may translate into greater on the job creativity, problem solving ability, and thinking “outside the box”.
6. Self defense training instills confidence. Martial arts based training helps people build confidence and become greater leaders. Public speaking may also be enhanced, as well as greater leadership presence.
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I would wonder how many companies would go for this? Class injuries from pulled muscles to sprains to broken bones to heart attacks to on mat grudges (he’s better than me or she hit me too hard being taken off the mat) - being a company sponsored activity the company would be liable for such things and signing a waiver doesn’t always cover the bases.
Well Chris, let me respond.
I have conducted dozens of self defense classes for hundreds of students in corporate settings as varied as health clubs, ivy-league medical schools, police departments, law firms etc. I have never had a single student injury. Corporate self defense must have training safety as a primary focus. I don’t let students without experience practice in unsafe ways or develop “mat grudges.” If you have on mat grudges at your school, that’s a topic for another day.
That being said, many corporations sponsor health club memberships, outward bound adventures, yoga classes etc. which all carry the risks of physical activity such as sprains, broken bones, heart attacks. Corporate self defense should not be taught as a no holds barred free-for all and risks should be mitigated. Corporate self defense should be appropriately tailored with no to low contact training.
The risk of injury in martial arts, compared with other contact sports, is still very low. Beginning martial artists, compared with those with 3 or more years experience, actually have an even lower rate of injury. And certain styles of training have lower injury rates (Tae Kwon Do is much higher than karate or tai chi). Students who practice more than 3 days a week show an increase risk of injury. Each of these factors can be controlled in a corporate setting.
I’m no lawyer, but I have taught self defense for a number of law firms, and none even had their employees sign corporate waivers. I can assume that being sued was not a major concern for them. A couple of corporate clients had forms that read that self defense training was extra-curricular and not covered as a work activity.