Effective trauma management can reduce staff absence

Researchers at the University of Sheffield, in collaboration with the Institute for Employment Studies and Atos Origin, have identified that effective trauma management in the workplace can reduce staff absence and lead to better health amongst employees.

The new study, which was commissioned by the British Occupational Health Research Foundation (BOHRF), found that an organisation that provides simple yet effective strategies to manage post trauma in the workplace can reduce the negative symptoms that its employees experience.

The researchers, from the Institute of Work Psychology at the University, looked at the Royal Mail Group (RMG) and identified 815 workers, over a two-year period, who had been exposed to a potentially traumatic incident and then tracked them over 13 months. The Royal Mail Group was chosen because it has a well-established trauma management programme in place and the range of jobs in the organisation means that the trauma incidents experienced are varied, from armed raids and hostage taking situations, to road traffic accidents and verbal abuse.

The RMG trauma management programme consists of three phases: practical support on the day of the incident in the form of crisis management; a Support Post Trauma (SPoT) protocol designed by Atos Origin to ensure managers provide appropriate practical, emotional and social support; and further ongoing support from a professional trauma counselling service provided by Atos Origin.

The researchers found that sickness absence amongst employees, following trauma, significantly correlated with the perceived organisational support employees thought they received, with those who felt supported immediately post trauma having lower absence 12 months later. The study also found that perceived support from the organisation is more important in helping employees recover from trauma than the specific form of support.

Dr Jo Rick, from the Institute of Work Psychology at the University of Sheffield, who led the research team, said: ìFor a long time there has been much debate about the appropriate response to psychological trauma. This is primarily due to adverse outcomes of psychological debriefing ñ the most popular organisational response to trauma. The lack of evidence on the best response to trauma has left employers with little or no guidance on what to do for the best.î

ìOur research moves beyond this deadlock and, in line with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, and provides evidence about different approaches which work. It also identifies that the way individual employees perceive the support offered by their organisation post trauma could play an important part in their recovery and reduce sickness absence post trauma.î

The full report can be downloaded from