Guide to Helping Employees Immediately after a Critical Incident

What to do First

• Relocate all employees from the trauma scene to a safe area as soon as feasible.
• Provide employees with necessities such as water, tissues, food, etc.

Behaviors You May Observe

Employess may be:

• in a state of shock
• Crying and perhaps unable to stop
• Angery and frustrated
• Withdrawn and isolated

How to Support Employees

• Be willing to say nothing. Just being there is often the most supportive thing you can do to help.
• Be aware that employees will have mixed emotions. These are normal reactions to the critical incident.
• Allow all employees to express any reactions to the critical incident.
• Answer any questions employees may have.
• Provide these suggestions: avoid alcohol and caffeine; rest; relax with breathing exercises; increase support from family and loved ones; drink plenty of water.
• Call the Faculty, Staff and Student Assistance Programs (443-997-7000) to request crisis response services.
• Give FASAP’s phone number (443-997-7000) to those employees who feel they need additional support.

 

Suggestions for What to Avoid

• Avoid statements like, “I know how you feel” or “Everything will be all right.” These statements make some people think their feelings are not understood.
• Do not attempt to explain why the incident happened. Your explanation may not be believed and may negatively impact your relationship with the employee.

 

Suggested Management Responses after the Critical Incident

• A supervisor should be well aware and understanding of the normal reactions to trauma and stress.
• The supervisor should be alert to behavioral changes, and consider consulting FASAP about next steps.
• The supervisor may choose to be temporarily tolerant of reduced performance or increased time-off, but he or she must use such tolerance carefully and not create resentment in other employees.
• Although some employees may need time off to work through their problems, productive work is historically a "healer" of emotional damage.
• The supervisor can reduce the effect troubled employees have on others by structuring some time for "talking it out" via a defusing or debriefing from FASAP, eliminating the need some have to "dump" their troubles on other employees.
• Productivity is still the supervisor's key responsibility. Employees need to know the organization expects the employee to continue to function, and to regain acceptable performance levels.
• The supervisor should respectfully confront employees with unacceptable work behavior, regardless of the cause.
• The supervisor should report all threats of violence to the Safe at Hopkins. If immediate safety is a concern, contact Security or 911.
• The normal steps of good management govern such confrontations, even if trauma related.
• It may be difficult for managers to determine how long an individual will need to recover from a traumatic event. However, your job is still to manage outcomes and productivity.

If you find yourself struggling with an employee weeks to months after a workplace crisis, please call the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program for consultation. FASAP has specially trained clinicians who work with managers and human resources/labor relations professionals on these issues. Services are available, 24 hours, 7 days a week by calling 443-997-7000.