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May 2021

What Leaders Need to Know About Trauma in the Workplace

Editor’s note: To what degree has the “collective” trauma of COVID-19 seeped into workplaces around the world? And what do leaders need to know about trauma in the workplace? The People Equation reached out to psychiatrist and trauma expert Dr. Mark Goulston to learn more. In this guest post, he shares the leadership lessons about healing from the trauma of COVID-19. Guest Post: Mark Goulston, MD, FAPA What Leaders Need to Know about Trauma in the Workplace It is undeniable. With the arrival of COVID-19 the world has changed in many ways forever. It was a “perfect storm” of disruption, and nearly every industry has been impacted. And leaders across these industries have suffered as well, because COVID-19 is also a perfect storm for trauma. Not only have leaders had to furlough staff, or pivot their businesses overnight to meet customers’ changing needs, or quickly learn to manage their teams remotely, they have also had to worry about their own safety and the safety of their employees while witnessing massive amounts of death and losing the freedom to …

What Burnout Is and Why It Isn’t Confined To The Occupational Sphere

What Is Burnout? Burnout isn’t just being tired or “fed up” with work. “Burnout is far more than feeling blue or having a bad day. It is a chronic state of being out of synch with your job, and that can be a significant crisis in your life” (Leiter & Maslach, 2005, p. 2). With burnout, a person is no longer able to work (exhaustion) and no longer wants to spend effort at work (distancing). Burnout is characterized by exhaustion, mental distancing, and impaired cognitive functioning, such as poor attention and concentration, and a poor working memory (Schaufeli, De Witte, & Desart, 2020). In their book, Banishing Burnout, Leiter and Maslach (2005) wrote that:  “Burnout is lost energy. You are constantly overwhelmed, stressed, and exhausted” (Leiter & Maslach, 2005, p. 2). “Burnout is lost enthusiasm. Your original passion has faded and been replaced by a negative cynicism” (Leiter & Maslach, 2005, p. 2). “Burnout is lost confidence. Without energy and active involvement in …

The Days of Malaise

It feels like we’ve been in a fog for over a year now, doesn’t it? Even though things are easing up in regards to regulations in the US, other areas of the world are still facing lockdown, restrictions and uncertainty. I hope we are moving forward and there are signs we are. What’s intriguing to me is that instead of trying to walk out of the pandemic, we’re trying to set limits and new organizational constraints. We’re willingly falling back into old patterns and I think there’s a contributing factor. We’re stuck. The endless barrage of virtual meetings. The ongoing argument of the new way work is being done pitting remote vs. in-person vs. hybrid environments. The misconstrued lens of communication coming primarily from a white-collar perspective while overlooking any blue-collar reality. The underlying divisiveness of people demanding one-sidedness to their viewpoint without considering other’s perspectives. Should I go on? These factors of our new reality don’t take into account actual work. The efforts and contributions of the great people who have been diligently keeping companies afloat. We …

5 Simple Ways to Keep Your Workers Engaged

  In the past, many companies didn’t do the best job with employee engagement. If the workers did something meticulous, like data entry, they might have found the company’s policies to be as tedious as the work itself. In the modern era, many businesses understand that worker motivation is critical. Motivated employees are happy employees, and there are many creative ways that bosses and managers can create that environment. Let’s go over a few ways that company or department heads can keep their workers invested in what they’re doing. You Can Ask Them if They Know Suitable Candidates for Open Positions Every company must deal with the question of recruiting employees vs. finding the right fit. You can always appear at a job fair if you have some positions to fill. You can also look at profiles on Indeed, Monster, and LinkedIn to see if you notice anyone suitable. However, you can also use a completely different tactic in some instances. You might already have some employees who have been with the company for quite a while. You trust them, …