Monday, March 13, 2017

Helping Employees Overcome Emotionally Challenging Workplace Incidents that Distract from Productivity and Contribute to a Deteriorated Workplace Climate

There is one topic that you should seek to include in your EAP newsletter to employees. These topics tackle "emotionally challenging workplace incidents and events.” For the most part, these are intra-psychic stress issues, but articles or content offered to help employees tackle them will be the most appreciated because they help relieve emotional distress and add resilience.

An example would be how to respond to a very disappointing performance review an employee did not anticipate. Another would be criticism from the boss that blind-sides an employee. A nasty interaction with a coworker in the staff kitchen can ruin the whole day, and others include difficulty accepting feedback from peers, struggling with triggers and angry feelings when ignored, and being ostracized, bullied, or passively "aggressed" against. Much of this is about incivility, but the scope of these events is much broader. They represent interactions with coworkers, for example, where their might be purposely withheld compliments about one's new dress. The silent treatment is another one. These actions and similar common emotional stress experiences in the workplace take a toll on productivity. Your EAP newsletter can masterfully target them.

Employees look for articles like these. They will anxiously await articles that help them conquer stressful undesirable emotional states. They are a life-ring that you throw to workers to help them find resiliency in the EAP's outreach. Consider the content of a recent article below, and you will get a very good feel for what I am referring to.

Although eagerly welcoming constructive feedback, employees who accomplish a lot on the job know their successes will sometimes rub others the wrong way. Not everyone will be quick to praise one's triumphs when they are cast into the limelight by supervisors or others who recognize your achievements. Sound familiar? Sometimes these achievements are met with criticism for whatever reason. Do you know how to cope with such experiences? Learning to detach from unhelpful criticism is a skill to help you stay motivated, adapt to change, and think more creatively about your job. Try these “inoculations” to beef up your immunity: 1) Remember that those who criticize don’t know the real you. 2) See negative criticism as possible validation that you are “on the right track.” 3) Accept criticism of your success as normal and part of life’s challenges. 4) Search for the truth in the criticism, if any. Something about it may be helpful despite the style of its delivery. 5) Let criticism inspire you to work with even more vigor toward accomplishing your dreams, rather than forcing you into retreat.

There are many issues employees face that create emotional distress. Targeting them with workshops, articles, handouts, and especially with your EAP newsletter will help employees in ways that they will appreciate most.
(Get copies of the last 2-3 issues of Frontline Employee or Work Life Excel by visit http://workexcel.com/frontline-employee-newsletter or for Work Life Excel, email me at publisher@workexcel.com. I will send you Jan, Feb, and Mar.