stress management – Workforce

February 27, 2020June 29, 2023

The workplace is not immune to the impact of childhood trauma

trauma-informed workplace training, Baltimore, Youth Healing Team

There is increasingly a greater understanding that one’s work life impacts their personal life and vice versa. The two do not exist in separate bubbles.

Adverse childhood experiences — potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood — can impact how people cope with stress, how their brains develop and how much risk they have toward certain health issues, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ACEs include violence, abuse and growing up in a family with mental health or substance use problems. While 61 percent of adults in the U.S. have at least one ACE, 16 percent have at least four.

Even though ACEs occur long before people enter the workforce, they’re still relevant to a person in adulthood. And employers can take certain steps to create a “trauma-informed workplace,” said Kate Daugherty, community impact director at Hopeworks. Education management company Hopeworks has been trauma-informed since 2012, and Daugherty leads the Youth Healing Team, which trains other organizations in how to have this culture.

The Youth Healing Team has led training for schools, health care organizations and nonprofits, but this type of knowledge is useful for people in any industry, Daugherty said.

The City of Baltimore had the team provide training on the weekend of Feb. 8-9, when Mayor Jack Young signed the Elijah Cummings Healing Act, officially making Baltimore a trauma-informed city. The bill requires the city to train employees on trauma-responsive and trauma-informed care and services.

City Councilmember Zeke Cohen sponsored the bill. Cohen, who is also Chairman of The Education & Youth Committee, recounted a mass shooting in his district, the First District, in which four people were shot and two people were critically injured. The mass shooting took place at 3:45 in the afternoon, when two different schools were dismissing. Many children witnessed the mayhem.

“The thing that was perhaps most disturbing to me is when I went to visit one of the schools the next day, there was no additional support. No clinicians, no crisis response team. It just happened,” he said. “And what we know about trauma and the brain is that unless treated, that exposure to violence can have an indelible impact on the long term health outcomes and well-being of young people.”

On another occasion, a group of high school students whose school recently had a school shooting approached the education committee and challenged them to work more on reducing trauma, Cohen said. The committee worked with the students on the bill to make Baltimore a trauma-responsive city.

Interestingly, Cohen said, one type of business helped create a groundswell of support for this bill: Barbers and beauticians. In some Baltimore communities, people of color distrust getting psychiatric care in the hospital or health care setting because of mental health stigma, Cohen said, and barbers have become the unofficial clinicians of these communities. They cut the hair of and have conversations with people who may be the victims or shooters in mass shootings.

The support of businesses like barbers and beauticians was important to the cause, Cohen said.

“Even if the bill is great, if we don’t have a groundswell of people and organizations standing with it, we’ll miss an opportunity,” he said.

Part of the training which Hopeworks provides organizations and the city of Baltimore is learning about buffering factors, Daugherty said

People with ACEs may develop coping skills that got them through traumatic times in the past, but those skills aren’t appropriate for a professional setting, she said. And employers shouldn’t demonize employees for their coping skills.

She gave the example of a Youth Healing Team employee who was a smoker. Upon talking to him, they found out that he liked having that opportunity to stop and breathe. The Youth Healing Team suggested that, when he was stressed, he try standing still and taking 10 deep breaths. Then, he could reassess how he was feeling and decide if he still felt like he needed to smoke.

“Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t, but slowly over time we started to see that he needed to use that adverse coping skill less and less often,” Daugherty said.

Cohen stressed the importance of continued support of individuals, nonprofits and businesses if this bill that encourages Baltimore to train its employees to be trauma-responsive is to remain durable. Different organizations and nonprofits tend to operate in silos.

“What’s been gratifying to me about this work has been to have all these organizations working collectively. It’s been exciting,” he said. “It’s hard for a number of reasons for organizations to think about collective impact outside their own institutional needs.”

January 10, 2020June 29, 2023

Unintended Costs of the Modern Workplace

A lot of conversation focuses on helping people manage the day-to-day stress that comes with modern life and the modern workplace.

Whether it is looking at financial well-being (or the lack thereof), the stress of constant change, and the greater demands placed on an always-on workforce, we know there’s a problem. Diagnosing the root cause can be difficult, and that’s why I was so struck by my friend Aaron Hurst’s summary of the six unintended consequences of the modern workplace. He presented it at Purpose 2030, his company Imperative’s annual conference that focuses on aligning people and organizations around purpose and connection. (Full disclosure: I’m on Imperative’s board.)

One of the most important insights from their recent research is that creating deeper connections among people is a vital element to the success of organizations. I left their event inspired about how to build those connections on our team and thinking a lot about the idea that a leader’s job now includes creating an environment that supports deep and meaningful connections among colleagues, whether they are sitting side by side in an office or working in various locations around the world.

But that’s hard to do if we don’t examine why work has become a place that often creates the opposite of connection — loneliness and isolation. Looking at some of the unintended consequences we’ve created gives us a path for starting to solve them.

Productivity and communication tools like Slack can increase efficiency and collaboration, promoting quicker decision-making and information sharing. But the volume of communications can be a challenge.

Also in Benefits Beat: Make Benefits and Internal Communications Inseparable

As quantity increases, stress can too, and many interactions feel transactional rather than personal. For benefits teams, these new tools can be a daunting new feedback channel to manage as well. Several of our clients use them to promote benefits in creative ways, but keeping up with employees’ dialog and questions can become a full-time job.

Questions to consider: How do we support conversations that are meaningful? And how can benefits teams with limited resources embrace new tools?

Remote work is an amazing thing. It has expanded the possibilities for the way we work and with whom. For our team, it has been a vital tool for us to bring on key talent, and I think supporting remote work is beneficial in countless ways. But, with less room for casual and face-to-face interaction, authentic connection among employees can be lost.

Questions to consider: How can we enable a sense of belonging and connection with those working remotely? How can benefits create ways for people who work remotely to feel connected and supported by their organizations?

Diversity and inclusion are key goals for most of us. The connection to benefits and the ways we build support programs for various employee groups is a hot topic.

But fully embracing a diverse and inclusive environment creates unique new challenges that require a lot of intentional new behaviors. This side of D&I is not always fully acknowledged or discussed.

As Aaron Hurst says, “The workforce is growing more diverse in every way. It is building a more inclusive society and economy as well as bringing new perspectives to work that drive innovation. When we work with people who are similar to us, the norms of communication and interaction are pretty clear, and it is easier to feel psychologically safe. When we have a diverse workforce, the old models of communication and collaboration are no longer adequate.”

Questions to consider: What does a workplace look like that can fully address the psychology of diversity? How do benefits and other programs build connections and support full inclusion?

Many modern corporations have adopted open-plan designs, hoping it will increase collaboration and productivity. In reality, workers often find that removing physical walls can decrease the quality of connection with those we work with and make focused work more challenging.

Also in Benefits Beat: A New Look at Caregiving

Questions to consider: How can we retain the benefits of open spaces while also restoring more intentional connection? Can benefits like mindfulness training or well-being challenges help individuals and teams get better connected inside and outside of the office walls?

The negative side effects of engagement as a main measurement tool and the challenges of shrinking tenure are also among the unintended consequences Aaron covered. What are the other unintended consequences of your modern workplace? And how are you going to use this year to solve them?

August 1, 2019February 25, 2022

7 Tips for Managers to Help Employees De-Stress

The CareerCast stress report analyzes 11 factors that represent the most common stressors including deadlines, public scrutiny and physical demands.

In companies both large and small, workers can be heard talking about how they need a break or how they need to have a mental health day.

According to a 2017 report from the American Psychological Association, work stress is the third most common stressor in Americans’ lives. What’s contributing most to that work stress, according to a 2017 Paychex study, is missing out on time spent at home.

Employees are stressed for a multitude of reasons including workload, lack of support, lack of control in decision-making processes, unclear performance expectations, ineffective time management skills, and failure to implement boundaries on time away from work and use vacation time granted to them.

There are many ways managers can help employees cope with such stresses, though. Here are seven tips to get them started:

Look and Listen. As a manager it is important to pay attention to your employees. When you observe your employees in action, do they appear to be overwhelmed? Are they agitated when speaking with you? Do they express concern or anxiety over a project or deadline? What words are they using to describe their workload? Has their demeanor changed?

If you notice that an employee’s mood has changed and he or she appears more stressed than usual, it’s time to initiate a conversation on how you can help.

Provide Clarity. Managers have a broad view of the department’s productivity and goals, as well as what each employee is working on at any given time. Managers can plan projects and set appropriate deadlines for work.

Keep in mind that employees may need guidance on reassessing to-do lists and understanding priorities, direction on how the work is to be completed, and what assistance is available to get work done. Don’t be afraid to get in the trenches with your employees and work side-by-side to complete an important task.

Foster Partnership. Personality conflicts can be a contributor to stress, and managers play a significant role in fostering teamwork and mediating disputes. It is critical that managers address conflicts both timely and effectively to avoid escalation. HR can provide tools and guidance on how to properly investigate, document, and coach employees to resolve their discord.

Acknowledge Humanity. Employees are people. They have responsibilities and stressors outside of their work. It is critical for employees to recharge after the workday and workweek.

Enable employees to have a healthy work-life balance by providing them the opportunity to connect with family and friends and to rest and take care of themselves. Managers should encourage employees to limit checking emails after business hours and to take earned vacation time. Supervisors should also be trained in managing employee leaves of absence, knowing what leaves employees are entitled and supporting employees to take leaves to care for themselves or family members.

Encourage Exercise. Urge employees to take their breaks, stretch and move around for a few minutes several times a day. A change of scenery can help employees gain a fresh perspective on the task at hand and clear their minds for more creative thinking. Physical activity can aid in alleviating tension and increasing blood flow. Even better, have employees take a break together to foster teambuilding and comradery.

Also read: Consider Fresh Air and Relaxed Hikes to Combat Work Stress

Provide Training. Empower your employees with access to resources that enable resiliency. Employees themselves can be trained on stress management, time management and conflict resolution to hopefully minimize the incidence of anxiety and depression.

Promote Benefits. Managers should be the raving fans of the company’s benefits programs, especially those related to mental and physical well-being.

An employee assistance program is a useful tool for employees experiencing stress or needing to cope with difficult situations. Managers are not professional counselors and should not act as such.

Additionally, ensure that the medical plans provided to employees include access to outpatient and inpatient mental health treatment, medication and counseling. Many medical insurance companies are now offering teledoctors for individuals who have difficulty seeing a physician face-to-face, as well as perks and discounts to gyms and fitness-related services that employees may not be aware of.