Chapter 8
Building Resiliency While Helping Hearts and Minds to Heal

This chapter covers the following topics:

• Helping employees recover psychologically from trauma
• Professional support and counseling services available through the Employee Assistance Program and other avenues
• How managers and employees reacted to a real-life disaster, and how they used professional support to accelerate their recovery

Overview

Just as you can’t predict when an emergency will hit, you can’t calculate when it truly will have ended in the hearts and minds of your employees. Long after all physical evidence of a disaster is gone, people may still be suffering adverse effects from the experience. This is why flexibility in planning and in executing your plan is important; you need to acknowledge that disasters don’t have neat and tidy endings. You may have to continue to provide expert support and counseling to help employees deal with the trauma and grief and continue on the road to recovery long after the event.

The discussion of emotions and conditions such as anger, weariness, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder in this chapter is not meant to imply that everyone involved in a disaster will become one of the walking wounded for the rest of his or her working life. Individuals who have been employed for a 112 significant portion of their lives tend to be highly functional human beings. They also tend to be resilient, which means that they are capable of both recovering from disaster and adjusting to change. Our goal is to shorten this period of recovery and adjustment by taking constructive steps.

Recent research confirms that a large number of individuals who experience trauma are indeed resilient.¹ Resilient individuals exhibit flexibility. They may experience some distressing emotions, but they promptly confront their challenges and engage in problem solving over the issues they face. Research also shows that brief workplace crisis interventions can positively affect the psychological well-being of individuals who have experienced a disaster. For example, New Yorkers who participated in just two or three brief counseling sessions at work after the events of 9/11 faced less long-term risk and overall mental health impairment for up to two years after the disaster compared with those who did not receive counseling.²

Psychological Recovery

Leaders should keep in mind the following three guidelines when helping employees to recover psychologically from trauma:

• Everyone with some connection to the situation, whether at the site of the event or at a different site, should have access to professional support and counseling services as soon as the danger of physical harm from the event is past. People may think they are fine, and they may be, but they may have a delayed reaction. The offer of support should extend to workers’ families, who may be just as affected or even more so by the disaster.
  The HR staff at a firm based on the West Coast initially thought they had avoided the trauma of 9/11. Although their company suffered some financial loss because they had a partial ownership interest in the World Trade Center, their reaction was “Those were just buildings.” A few days later, they learned that one of their two New York-area employees had been visiting the towers that morning and was now missing. Upon hearing about the fate of the employee, HR leaders took the initiative and contacted their EAP, which 113 dispatched counselors to company work sites around the country to help employees come to grips with their loss.
• Support and counseling services should be tailored to the individual’s situation; one size does not fit all. Generally, the people who personally experienced the incident will have the greatest interest in and need for support and counseling services.
  For example, the fire in the First Interstate tower, which was described in the Prologue, was a much more disturbing experience for the employees who worked in the building or elsewhere in Los Angeles than for those in other cities. However, past experience may influence how individuals react, regardless of their physical proximity to the recent event. Those who have had prior traumatic experiences may have special needs.
  The very gesture by the company of offering services is enough to start some employees on the road to healing. Others may resist using services, despite their emotional wounds, until they can find the precise sort of help that will serve as a salve for them. Still others will respond well to a number of different interventions, often provided over several months.
• Support and counseling services should remain available for at least a year, and possibly longer, because the healing process can be protracted. It’s not uncommon for people who have been through a major trauma to experience relapses when they encounter situations or places that revive the painful memories. For example, an individual who “jumped back on the horse” and chose to ride the elevator after a fire in the office high-rise may suddenly start taking the stairs or request a transfer to a one-story building.

In your plans and actions, always keep in mind that the speed at which people recover, restabilize, and resume their lives can vary dramatically, depending on their proximity to the disaster, degree of involvement, prior experience with disasters, tolerance for stress, self-awareness and self-control, physical and psychological well-being, coping skills, and resiliency, as well as the actual and perceived helpfulness of others and a multitude of other factors, including the risks involved.

More on Employee Assistance Programs

Throughout this book we have suggested the utilization of Employee Assistance Programs, which usually provide crisis support. Since the 1950s these programs have evolved to become freestanding entities, available through contracts with HMOs, managed behavioral health firms, and insurance companies. A few EAPs function as company-operated crisis and counseling resources, although this situation is becoming increasingly rare.

An EAP can provide confidential, short-term counseling and referrals for employees and often for dependents and retirees as well. The counseling services may range from personal life adjustment sessions to workshops that target such common issues as balancing work and family life and handling interpersonal relationships in the workplace. In work-related disasters, most EAPs can provide trained counselors to conduct “critical incident stress debriefings,” as well as to facilitate group discussions, meet with affected individuals one on one, hold workshops on living with sadness or stress, or provide other types of interventions. It

is important to be knowledgeable on the types of crisis services a particular EAP claims to supply.

By providing crisis support within 24 hours or sooner, an EAP can help affected employees and their families to realize that others share their reaction to stress, and to identify stressful situations and defuse them when possible. The EAP can also make referrals to other professionals if an individual needs more help or therapy.

If the EAP is your first line of defense, familiarize yourself with its capabilities, especially the services it offers and recommends and the qualifications of the counselors dispatched for your account. Make sure the EAP has the ability to send in specialized counselors on short notice (generally 24 to 48 hours), from their own staff or through partnerships with expert consultants in all of your locations.

Ask whether the EAP routinely provides follow-up services to help those most at risk. These services can range from coping skills, individual support through the EAP, mental health benefits, and community resources.

For instance, Magellan Health Services, a U.S.-based behavioral health disease management and employee assistance company, has developed a “Critical Incident Severity Index Scale” to assess the significance of traumatic workplace events. The higher the score on a number of factors, the greater the risk of negative impact on employees at the workplace.

For those incidents with a moderate to severe risk, Magellan suggests that employers adopt a three-phase extended follow-up for managers and employees. The first phase starts one or two days after the initiation of on-site services, which occurs shortly after the critical incident. The second phase is about a month later. The third takes place about 8 weeks later. In the case of severe incidents, such as the hurricanes of 2005, some organizations had a phase 4 follow-up about 12 weeks later. The follow-up can involve telephone consultations, group briefings, individual sessions, or other interventions that are appropriate for the situation, organization, and individuals. After each phase, Magellan captures information about the extent to which employees are functioning and approaching their pre-incident state. These extended services not only help affected individuals, but also demonstrate the employer’s commitment to its employees.

Also, the EAP should be able to coordinate well with your internal security department, external health services, police, and your HR function. Once you know your EAP’s strengths and deficiencies, plan how you will supplement its services in the face of a disaster or major risk.

One national expert in risk assessment and trauma counseling is Stephen White, President of Work Trauma Services, Inc. Dr. White has extensive experience helping people cope with crises, and he often provides backup or specialized services to EAP counselors. When an organization is faced with a damaging event of large

scope, services such as his, coupled with what the EAP provides, can be enormously valuable. From the employer’s perspective, the sevices pay off not only by helping employees to stabilize more quickly, but also by preventing higher costs and more serious problems down the road. For example, a business that does not address employees’ emotional and psychological problems can experience higher costs from medical claims, more absenteeism, higher turnover, and lower productivity over the next several years.

Three Stages of Disaster Recovery

Dr. White assisted First Interstate HR leaders and employees who had worked in the building that burned. He worked with the staff to educate them on dealing with the anger and weariness brought on by the situation and other, associated symptoms. 118 “These phenomena can be seen in other trauma-inducing incidents. Each case, though, is unique in terms of the nature of the stressor event, the various feelings manifested, and the severity of impact,” he explained.

In First Interstate’s experience, the affected staff went through three stages:

• Stage 1: Reaction. Hit with the reality of a disaster and immediate losses, people react with shock, disbelief, sadness, anger, and confusion. They search for information, share news and reactions with co-workers, and become preoccupied with the event. They may also experience sleep and appetite disturbances, excitedness, and fatigue and may ruminate about “what if.” They have concern for and identify with other victims and worry about their ongoing safety.
• Stage 2: Adjustment. After a time the initial excitement subsides and the overall reality sinks in, especially after people have assessed their losses. They begin to mobilize and initiate recovery efforts. They may display mood swings, still subject to the range of reactions they experienced when the disaster occurred. They are probably frustrated by a lack of control over their situation and by the enormous challenges they face in dealing with lost resources. They may also feel hurt and resentful over a perceived lack of sensitivity from outsiders. They immerse themselves in their work and yet want more time and space to deal with the event, and they are constantly fatigued.
• Stage 3: Restabilization. Ultimately, individuals become more stable but experience occasional “echoes.” Problems remaining from the disaster are finally overcome, changes are accepted as permanent, and conversation and attention turn to other events.

Anger and Weariness

When individuals experience great loss, their feelings can quickly transform to anger, according to Dr. White. This anger stems from numerous sources, including the need to:

• Endure the pain of losses
• Maintain work performance standards in spite of disruptions
• 119 Sacrifice personal time in order to get matters of life and work under control
• Tolerate undesirable working conditions, such as crowding, loss of privacy, and constant interruptions
• Be a “host” or tolerate guilt as a host
• Depend on hosts for accommodations, resulting in a loss of self-reliance
• Deal with actual or perceived limitations (self-blame) that allow restoration accommodations to be distributed to others first
• Tolerate not having the answers to various questions and concerns

This anger is compounded by weariness that results from the drama and trauma in the days immediately following an emergency or a disaster. People will either show the anger directly or mask it with some other behavior. It’s important to defuse anger and combat weariness so that employees can return to productive work without experiencing long-term adverse effects.

According to Dr. White, HR leaders and other managers should watch out for these negative adaptive behaviors:

• Withdrawing from the recovery effort or withdrawing from work. The employee is not participating in the tasks assigned to his or her unit or has left the workplace, and he or she is checking neither voicemail nor e-mail and is not carrying out assignments.
• Keeping silent or showing hostility. This may include such behaviors as being snippy, throwing temper tantrums, exhibiting a “Don’t talk to me right now” attitude, putting down others, or using unnecessary sarcasm.
• Demanding lots of special attention or treatment. Suddenly, the employee is showing a need for high maintenance and reassurance.
• Complaining. The employee expresses the sentiment that nothing is any good or that he or she is being put upon unnecessarily.
• Blaming. It is someone else’s fault that the work isn’t getting done on time or with the quality expected.
• 120 Blowing up. A normally cool and collected employee loses his or her temper and screams at others.
• Curtailing generosity. A normally benevolent, sharing person becomes selfish and seemingly uncaring about others.

Leaders and managers should also watch themselves and other managers for these problem behaviors:

• Emotional withdrawal from employees
• Deflecting voiced concerns
• Too much absorption in work versus concern for and involvement with staff
• Taking frustrations out on subordinates by making unrealistic work demands

Dr. White suggests that leaders and managers take these steps to deal with anger and weariness symptoms observed in themselves or in others:

• Be aware of the anger/weariness dynamic.
• Acknowledge to yourself and others that the reaction is normal and understandable.
• Encourage expressions of anger/weariness, including venting, to surface in a safe setting, as long as you and those involved agree on what this safe context is. For example, be explicit about honoring each other’s confidentiality. Also, you may want to meet off-site, or at least in a room that’s not a fishbowl.
• Share personal frustrations with subordinates and clients, as long as it’s a safe setting.
• Listen and respond to legitimate grievances whenever possible.
• Focus on recovery efforts and practical problem solving.
• Confront persistently negative employees, such as foot draggers, sandbaggers, pouters, complainers, “yes but”-ers, and destructive cynics.
• Encourage physical exercise, which releases muscular tension.
• Encourage and create opportunities for competitive sports.
• Share good news about improvements, restoration, and successes as soon as possible.
• 121 Emphasize and encourage personal replenishment activities and rituals.
• Make sure you are promoting the EAP benefit, especially to those who show greater-than-average difficulty in coping with the work environment and/or personal issues.
• Take advantage of opportunities for laughter, which eases burdens, counters hostility and depression, and promotes optimism.
• Accept that in extreme circumstances people need a little more nurturance, such as listening and caring.

Because each situation is special, individuals are unique, and the resources available can vary widely based on your geographic location, you should plan to get professional help to address psychological problems immediately after a disaster, including screening for the degree of impact. This way you can be sure that bodies, hearts, and minds are coping adequately or are in the process of healing, and that people can begin to resume their lives.

Any major crisis can be a life-changing event. When we are shaken physically, mentally, and emotionally, we lose a little more of our innocence and we have to recalibrate our sense of what’s normal. We will never be able to recapture our former state, but with effort we can create a new state of healthy normalcy.

Action Steps

1. Look into your EAP’s services, and if they are inadequate for dealing with the effects of a disaster—such as insufficient breadth and depth of counselors in locations where you have employees—interview specialists from firms that can supplement your EAP during a crisis.
2. If you don’t have an EAP, explore options immediately for providing professional support and counseling services, including employee screening after a disaster.
3. Provide employees with communication that describes the support and counseling services available to them and their families.