The impact of trauma on the workplace: How employers can support recovery

Regardless of when and how trauma occurs, the effects can be long and severe. For employers, understanding what trauma is and how it can impact employees is an essential part of offering the right kind of support. 

An estimated 70% of adults in the United States have experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetime, and up to 20% of these people go on to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a survey by the World Mental Health Consortium. Psychologists break trauma into two categories: Large "T" traumas, like sexual assault, accidents, abuse and military combat, cause severe emotional pain and impedes a person's daily functioning. Small "t" traumas, though not life-threatening, affect how people view themselves and can include divorce, conflict at home or work, infidelity, having or adopting a child and financial or legal troubles. 

Read more:  What Gen Z expects from managers

Regardless of the type, employers should understand many of their employees are suffering — perhaps silently — and there is a strong need to have a support system in place. 

"We see trauma come up quite a bit, but we also know that not everybody reaches out to get support," says Paula Allen, global leader and SVP, research and client insights at healthcare IT provider TELUS Health. "When you have a trauma — an event that changes your mental health — it changes the way you interact with the world and your perceptions and how you feel about yourself. A lot of people see trauma as post-traumatic stress disorder — major things — and it's much broader than that."

According to the most recent Mental Health Index by TELUS Health, 33% of workers in the U.S. have experienced trauma with a lasting negative impact on their mental health, and those who have experienced such trauma have a mental health score 13 points lower than the national average. The hardest hit populations are women and employees under the age of 40, the index found. 

Read more:  New employee benefits tackle grief, caregiving and climate change

Allen urges employers to step up their awareness of individual employees who need extra support, and let them know that mental health and wellness acceptance and benefits exist for every level of need.

"If you're going through [trauma] for any length of time where you're feeling vulnerable or in emotional upheaval, finances tend to suffer, relationships tend to suffer, other things tend to suffer," she says. "Providing holistic support for the individual is important. Mental health support is life skills support as well; it's not just the clinical intervention, but also the impact of other things that might be happening as a result of the situation."

Because the workplace can help or hinder the state of an employee's mental health, Allen recommends employers look inward at their work environment and ensure it's promoting belonging and a sense of personal control among employees. As a lack of control is one of the factors that exacerbates a trauma response, employees with autonomy at work  will perform better, which will improve mental well-being, she notes. 

Read more:  This platform is helping employers normalize grief at work

Additionally, organizations that provide multi-tiered support have employees who scored higher on TELUS's mental health index. In turn, productivity is higher, workers are healthier, and they have a strong appreciation for what they see as a caring company culture. 

"Does your organization provide the support needed when you're in a difficult situation, but that support is not just mental health support?" Allen says. "Do you also have a culture where, when you're in trouble, you get support from a manager or colleagues to problem-solve, or do you have a culture where you better suck it up and if you ask for help you're seen as incompetent? If you do not have an environment that is psychologically safe, you get the worst from your people." 

When a workplace is a safe, supportive space, even employees who do not disclose personal traumas or request help from their employer can see it as a place of refuge. Allen reminds employers that conversation around self care and well-being should be a consistent topic for all members of their workforce, and training managers to speak with their workers is a great way to make them a key part of the overall organizational effort when they notice an employee is struggling. 

"If you see a change in behavior, don't judge what it is, but show the person, 'I see you, I care. And if there's something I can do to help, I'm available, and we have services that can help you,'" Allen says. "Manager influence is such a big thing — there is no safety-sensitive organization that does not invest a massive amount of training in their managers."