How Should Companies Support Employees Traumatized by 9/11? A Case Study Discussion

Merlyn Monroe is not a complainer. If she has a major ache, she usually suffers in silence. Although her employer, Atlantic Mutual Insurance, has an employee assistance program to provide emotional and psychological support in the workplace, she certainly never thinks of using it, even if she did have a worry on her mind. “They say it's confidential, but who really knows?” asked Ms. Monroe, an administrative assistant at the insurance company.

But Merlyn Monroe's life changed on September 11, 2001. Her office at 140 Broadway in New York City was near the World Trade Center. She watched the whole thing from her 50th-floor office window.

Ms. Monroe had never seen so much destruction in her life. She had never seen such a horrific terrorist attack, nor had she been forced to relive 9/11 over and over.

Every time she talked to people, they wanted details, which made it worse for her. She had so much anger about what had happened to her life, the lives of so many people, and the city where she worked for 40 years.

Two weeks after 9/11, Ms. Monroe was still suffering aftereffects. Even though she lives on Staten Island and Atlantic Mutual's offices have been temporarily relocated to Madison, New Jersey, not an hour goes by when she doesn't have flashbacks of her experiences of 9/11.

Questions

• What should Atlantic Mutual Management do, if anything, to cope with the aftereffects of 9/11?
• How long would you expect employees to be adversely affected by 9/11 if a company provides no formal assistance for dealing with anger and stress?
• What, if anything, should management do about employees who appear to be suffering from such kinds of trauma and stress but will neither admit it nor accept help from their employer?
• Outline the role of an HR specialist in providing a safe and healthy environment for employees.

Please find below my suggestions:

1. The management in such a situation should try to organize behavioral sessions, yoga sessions, or programs like Art of Living to help its employees come out of such trauma.

2. Such situations are very personal in nature. No organization can determine a timeframe by which a person can come out of such a situation. An organization may conduct generic sessions to help its employees. If the organization does not take initiatives to help its employees, it may affect the work culture and people development in the long run.

3. Again, the management may organize sessions mentioned in point 1, which can be defined as generic in nature and should be meant for all employees strictly.

Hope this would suffice.

Cheers,
Kriti

Organizing Seminars and Counseling Sessions

The management can organize a seminar or presentation with help from a professional counselor about various disasters, such as man-made, natural calamities, terrorist attacks, etc., with an emphasis on how people have fought back physically and mentally from such adverse situations in the past. As mentioned above, one-on-one therapy or counseling sessions can be arranged on a case-by-case basis. Address the whole group as a single entity to motivate them to come out of the trauma.

Monitoring and Supporting Recovery

The span of time to decide on the effects of the trauma would be really difficult as it would vary according to each one's mental and physical conditioning, from maybe a few months to years. So instead of mapping the time taken to heal, the management should proactively monitor the progress of the group and individuals within. They can identify those lagging behind on a case-by-case basis. Self-help group programs are best in this situation where members can relate to each other as well as to the group as a whole while facing such trauma.

Community Welfare and CSR Initiatives

The management can propagate CSR initiatives while keeping community welfare as its theme. Voluntary social work and helping out others would effectively help members to introspect and cope with their emotional turmoil in such cases. Slowly, they have to be incorporated into activities that will reduce the attention they give to such trauma and its memories.

Role of HR Specialists

An HR specialist is the effective change agent for providing a safe and healthy environment for the employees. They need to understand the emotions of individuals, their concerns, and the group matrix within the organizations to which such individuals relate themselves. Not only focusing on physical safety, the HR specialist has to do more in keeping the mental well-being of employees by addressing their fears, anxiety, expectations, etc. They have to maintain an open mode of communication, involving and informing all employees of the proposed change initiatives by gaining the confidence of individuals as well as the group.

Regards