How to support an employee after a traumatic event

What is trauma?

Trauma refers to a deeply distressing or disturbing experience that involves horror/serious injury that can have long-lasting emotional, psychological, and physical effects on an individual.

Trauma can result from a wide range of situations in the workplace, including incidents of deliberate violence, assault or armed robbery. However, more commonly, accidental events can occur that can have a potentially traumatic impact on those involved, either directly or indirectly. These events may include an unexpected sudden death of a colleague or a customer, road traffic accidents, or a fire or other hazardous events.

Trauma can have a profound and lasting effect on the way individuals feel about themselves and can shatter their sense of safety.

What are symptoms of trauma?

Trauma can manifest in various ways, and not everyone reacts in the same way to a traumatic incident. The effects could reveal themselves days, weeks, months or even years later in some cases. Some traumas may trigger previous issues in a person’s life, which can result in these adding to the present incident. While traumatic events can be extremely distressing experiences and, in some cases, trigger a post-traumatic response, the majority of people can be expected to recover over the next few days or weeks.

Being aware of common reactions to trauma can assist you in supporting employees. It’s important to also realise that even though people may look fine at work, they may be trying to hide symptoms of trauma in order to cope with their working life.

Common reactions to traumatic stress:

• Anger
• Being tearful
• Being tense
• Anxiety
• Irritableness
• Feeling down
• Feeling jumpy
• Feeling isolated and alone
• Feeling emotional
• Tiredness
• Restlessness
• Numbness
• Feeling worthless
• Guilt
• Depression

Other symptoms which are a common part of post trauma reactions are avoidance of anything related to the trauma, hypervigilance and re-experiencing the traumatic event in flashbacks or nightmares.  These can cause problems with concentrating, eating, sleeping and sexual relationships. Such reactions are normal in the aftermath of a traumatic event, and they often start to subside within the weeks following the incident. However, there are cases where these feelings persist or may even appear at a later time. In these cases the employee should be signposted to an employee assistance programme (EAP) or encouraged to make an appointment with an NHS service or their GP.

How can I support an employee who’s dealing with a trauma?

Many employers recognise the importance of responding positively and supportively to employees involved in a traumatic incident as part of their duty of care, but also to help minimise the potential impact on employee’s performance and/or attendance at work. Below are some ideas to help you support an employee after an incident:

• Watchful waiting – the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) advises ‘watchful waiting’ over the first four weeks after an incident. This means regularly monitoring a person who has some symptoms but who is not currently having clinical intervention for the condition. It allows the person time to adjust to the impact of events in their own way, using whatever resources are available.

• Give the employee an opportunity to talk – Give them your full undivided attention, and listen without judgement. You could ask questions such as “how have you been?” and “do you want to talk about what happened”. Don’t pressure the employee into talking if they don’t want to.

• Ask the employee what support they feel they need in terms of getting back to work – They are best placed to know what will help a phased return back to work with support/adjustments that can help them increase their confidence.

• Signpost them to available support you have in place – For example, this could be an EAP, or other forms of support such as a wellbeing platform which can offer practical advice for looking after their physical and mental wellbeing. You can also signpost them onto charities, such as Samaritans, who offer non-judgemental emotional support 24/7 via the helpline 116 123.

• Check-in with them on a regular basis – Setup a weekly catch-up call to check how they are doing and whether anything can be done further to support them.

• Recognise that adjusting after a trauma can take time – Offer patience and understanding in your employee’s journey. Recognise there is no ‘quick-fix’. This means avoiding using phrases like “you will get over it” or “pull yourself together”. These types of statements can make things worse and don’t help.

• Leverage the professional guidance of occupational health – If you have a provider in place, they can support you to identify reasonable workplace adjustments as well as put a return-to-work plan in place if this is needed.

• Encourage them to use their support network – Encouraging them to talk to friends and family can help them feel supported and aid them to get through difficult times.

• Offer supportive self-help resources – This could be on topics such as mindfulness and relaxation techniques, as well as ways to look after their general wellbeing.

• Recognise when they need further support – Encourage the employee to see their GP if they are struggling to cope.

Self-care for line managers

Supporting employees after a trauma can be tiring and impact your own wellbeing. Remember that you too can be at risk of overload, with potential costs to your own psychological health.

Below are some steps to help with self-care:

• Check-in with yourself on a regular basis and assess your own needs.
• Use your supportive network and talk to others.
• Reach out for support if you need it, whether that is through internal services or through your own GP or the NHS.
• Make sure your own line manager knows what you are doing.
• Take time to off-load in a safe and confidential setting.
• Try to follow general guidance for keeping well, such as getting enough good quality sleep, exercising regularly, eating a healthy balanced diet and keeping socially connected to others.
• Leverage professional support where needed, such as HR, an employee assistance programme (EAP) or occupational health if your employer has this in place.

Overall this is a time for being considerate, compassionate and thoughtful to others but also to yourself.

Summary

Whilst this article only scratches the surface of the effects of psychological trauma, it’s important to remember people react differently. Anyone involved in a traumatic event should be offered help as soon as possible to help minimise the potential impact on their mental and physical wellbeing.

Sources
www.thehrdirector.com/features/health-and-wellbeing/support-employees-dealing-grief-trauma

Further support

Mental Health at Work – Helping staff cope with trauma.
PTSD UK – Information for employers about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Samaritans – Free confidential 24/7 helpline where a listener is able to offer emotional support.

Ref: WPW0038 this information was reviewed May 2024.