Supporting employees through workplace trauma 

Workplace trauma is something that can happen to anyone, regardless of the industry they are in, from accidents, violence, and assaults to layoffs and unexpected crises. Some events can have profound psychological impacts on individuals, teams, and the entire company culture.
Being able to identify and respond to workplace trauma will foster a healthier and more resilient environment.

What is Workplace Trauma?

Workplace trauma refers to psychological or emotional distress that employees can experience because of something happening in the workplace.

This can be due to a single incident:

• Accidents (victim or witness)
• Violence (victim or witness)
• Sudden job loss

It can also be the result of ongoing stressors:

• Bullying
• Harassment
• Toxic environment

Workplace trauma can express itself through different types of symptoms — emotional, physical, and behavioural — that can affect both professional and personal life.

Psychological and Emotional Consequences

Trauma can lead to mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, or even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It can create emotional numbness, irritability, and deep feelings of anger, shame, or sadness.

Physical Consequences

Workplace trauma can provoke sleep disturbances and physical health issues like headaches, muscle pain, increased heart rate, or changes in appetite.

Behavioural and Social Impact

Finally, trauma also has consequences on behaviours, from reduced performance due to decreased focus and concentration to absenteeism and presenteeism from an employee wanting to avoid triggers in the workplace where their reactivity and irritability will be increased.

Financial Impact

In many countries, failure to address mental health issues, including traumatic experiences, may have a significant financial impact on the employer. Not only do employees need to take sick days due to lasting trauma, but also due to fines and reimbursements if they decide to take action against organisations defending employee rights.

Some Relevant Data on Workplace Trauma

Verbal abuse (58%) is the most common form of non-physical violence, followed by threats (33%) and sexual harassment.

The health, social work, and services industries have the highest rates of workplace trauma.

21% worldwide (more than 1 in 5) are said to have experienced some form of violence and harassment (physical, psychological, or sexual) at work at some point throughout their lives.

Psychological harassment, such as insults, threats, bullying, or intimidation, is the most common form of workplace harassment globally, with 17% saying they have experienced it during their lifetime. Physical (7%) and sexual (6%) violence and harassment come next.

For 61% of the people who have experienced psychological harassment, it is a recurring issue as they report that it happened three or more times. 56% of those who have experienced physical violence and 52% of victims of sexual violence and harassment say this has happened three or more times.

Lasting Impact of Workplace Trauma

Impact on the Individual

Individuals may develop chronic mental health issues such as persistent anxiety, PTSD, depression, and even substance abuse. Some employees may encounter difficulties in their career progression or face the prospect of being unable to continue working altogether.

On the Team

When it comes to teams, lasting trauma will eventually lead to the erosion of trust, a decline in morale if unresolved challenges and conflicts persist, and an increase in absenteeism, presenteeism, and turnover. A team suffering from trauma will become risk-averse and less willing to innovate, which will negatively impact the company's productivity.

At the Company Level

Long-lasting trauma that remains unaddressed can become deeply ingrained in the culture, creating an environment of fear, mistrust, and disengagement that weakens leadership, drains talent, and, over time, can even harm the company's reputation. This is why addressing workplace trauma is not only essential for moral reasons but also a strategic investment in the health of your organization.

How to Handle Trauma in the Workplace?

Trauma-Informed Care & Critical Incident Response Plans

Companies are encouraged to learn about trauma-informed care and implement processes, such as critical incident response plans, to effectively maintain well-being, safety, and resilience at both the individual and organizational levels in the event of traumatic situations.

Trauma-informed practice or care aims to improve the quality and accessibility of services for individuals suffering from trauma while also encouraging practitioners, as well as colleagues and HR representatives, to shift from "What is wrong with this person?" to "What does this person need?"

The ultimate goal is to create an environment that prevents re-traumatization and supports the well-being of everyone within the organization.

Trauma-informed care has six main principles:

• Safety
• Trustworthiness
• Choice
• Collaboration
• Empowerment
• Cultural consideration

That translates into:

Ensuring employees feel safe to ask for help, discuss their needs and boundaries, and understand that there are rules and regulations in place to protect them.

Ensuring employees' voices are heard and taken into account when making decisions for their healing process, while also clearly explaining every step to them.

Having thorough transparency in policies, procedures, and decision-making. By following through on promises and agreements and by being clear on expectations.

Using formal and informal peer support.

Validating feelings and concerns of staff and service users.

Moving past cultural stereotypes and biases (for example, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability, geography, race or ethnicity).

A critical incident response plan, or CIRP, is a step-by-step framework companies can use to prepare for, respond to, and recover from sudden and traumatic events in the workplace (accidents, deaths, violence, natural disasters).

Implementation in the Workplace

As is often the case, it begins with implementing procedures and training for prevention and awareness. The staff, from employees to HR and leadership, need to be able to recognize the signs and effects of trauma.

The first step is to identify the potential risks, appoint and train a response team, and create and communicate clear protocols. Regular training and feedback loops are also needed.

Here are some more essentials:

Strong and clear Zero-Tolerance Policy for harassment, discrimination, and violence, making it part of your code of conduct.

Confidential reporting channels through which employees can feel safe to report an issue without fear of retaliation.

Regular resource sharing to ensure all your employees are aware of the tools at their disposal.

Comprehensive training: Offer recurring training sessions, workshops, and seminars led by professionals, targeting all levels, from employees to leadership and HR, on trauma awareness, trauma response, and preventing re-traumatization, as well as guidance on accessing the right resources.

Access to mental health professionals through third-party Mental Health providers such as Siffi.

Support system post-incident: Establish a task force dedicated to arranging debriefing sessions to support employees and assist them during their recovery process.

Involve employees in the design of trauma support initiatives to ensure all needs are met.

Regardless of your industry, supporting employees through workplace trauma is not just about compliance; it is part of what makes compassionate leadership and builds healthier, more resilient organizations.