What is workplace trauma and how to support your employees?
Workplace trauma Support for Employees
Anyone could be
affected by trauma at work. Workplace trauma is real. Therefore, it is
important to recognize the different events that trigger a trauma response, how
different people react to a traumatic event and what you, as an employer, can
do to mitigate the impact of the traumatic even on your team.
Different types of trauma
Firstly, there is a
single incident trauma, which is caused by an identifiable crisis – an event
with a clear beginning and end. For example, this could be an accident, sudden
death of a dear colleague or robbery. This type of trauma is often a single
event experienced by an individual or a group of people. It is often the case,
that in the workplace environment this event is known or by many,
so it is likely that the teams or the company accepts and understands an
individual or group traumatic response and is open to talking about
it. Secondly, there is a complex trauma which is caused by ongoing events.
For example, discrimination, a chaotic work environment or bullying, which
happen repeatedly over time. This type of trauma can be less obvious or hidden
and, in many cases this may bring shame, it will be difficult to escape from
due to workplace culture, it will be uncomfortable or even ignored or denied by
others (which is highly invalidating for the people involved in the situation).
Recognizing symptoms of trauma in the workplace
There are
psychological, cognitive, and physical symptoms generally observed in people
who have experienced a trauma. People can feel chest pains, headaches or
constricted breathing. They might feel anxious, depressed, frustrated, or angry.
They may disconnect from others and disengage from their work. Some of
these symptoms can be part of someone’s normal behaviour; therefore, it is
important to identify that these might be the result of a trauma event. For
example, someone who is always at work suddenly is absent every Monday, or a
formerly responsible employer is lying or making bad decisions. This can occur
as someone who has experienced a traumatic response can feel unsafe or
overwhelmed. Their self-self-esteem and confidence may fall, or they might feel
out of control.
Other examples of
someone experiencing traumatic moral injury or ongoing trauma can be presented
with similar symptoms of burnt out. Likewise, it can present with strong
emotions of anger or frustration, and increasingly unexplained arguments.
The cost of trauma for businesses
Traumatized
employees can have a huge effect on the day-to-day processes of an
organization. These can
range from absence, less productivity, which can lead to loss of thousands of
pounds. Mental health costs UK employers approximately £56 billion each
year. What is more, without the right assistance, the employees may not
recognize that they are undergoing trauma-related symptoms.
However, there are
steps you can take to reduce this enormous number of lost pounds. For example,
for every £1 spent by employers on employee support program for mental
health mental health interventions, employers could get back £5.30 in reduced
absence, presenteeism, and staff turnover. Therefore, it is highly important to
invest time and money in corporate mental health services.
How can HR managers support employees
experiencing workplace trauma?
Firstly, it is vital to build a positive
environment of support and awareness, and culture that cultivates a workplace
everyone wants to be in. It is paramount not to invalidate the experience of
the individual or the groups involved in the trauma events. Being considered of
people’s differences and offering help wherever possible – breaking workplace
stigma of trauma. Secondly, having at hand professional support available for
everyone in a form of bespoke boutique mental health services for companies or
affordable workplace employee counselling. These offer more than just a
positive conversation or a shoulder to lean on. In this case, a professional
help can be a lifesaver within the first days or weeks to support people to
process the traumatic event. Therefore, try incorporating workplace trauma support and critical incident
response into your company HR
systems can be crucial. Finally, when delivering evidenced based trauma support
for groups of employees or senior managers, there is a human and financial
benefit.
References:
https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/reports/health-well-being-work/
Comments
Post a Comment