Social upheaval and traumatic events impact employee productivity and engagement during difficult times. Events that involve racial violence such as the Buffalo massacre, Uvalde mass shootings and the tragic killing of George Floyd have wounded our collective psyche. Increased awareness about injustices suffered by marginalized communities has made it necessary for workplaces to create space for employees to process secondary traumatic stress, which may rise up after being exposed to the traumatic experiences of another.  

Creating a diverse, inclusive and equitable organizational culture takes time, and issues won’t be resolved instantaneously. It requires dedicated effort to create and sustain a work environment where employees have the space to grieve traumatic events and the support to hold the organization accountable to justice and equity.  

Leaders must recognize that in order to fully invite and engage employees to bring their full selves to work, the workplace must ensure psychological safety: The feeling that it is OK to take risks, speak freely and have dissenting opinions. For employees from diverse identities and their allies, psychological safety means being able to call out dominant-culture norms and policies without fear of reprisal. It means being able to care deeply about social issues and the people they affect without being penalized for challenging obvious discrepancies between the organization’s word and deed.

Curating safe spaces for sense-making and discussion often requires a coordinated response that involves staff from key leadership areas: diversity, communications, and human resources. When traumatic events occur, leaders must enlist their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and/or human resources leader to provide counsel about the appropriate response. If effectively given the authority, the DEI leader, diversity champions and members of employee or business resource groups can provide guidance about the sentiments of the impacted community and how the organization’s response should be tempered to meet the needs of the moment. Human resources can offer sound advice on resources available to employees, such as Employee Assistance Programs and other benefits.

A few other tips to consider when deciding upon a course of action:

• Identify a rapid response communications team that could make fast and thoughtful decisions about employee-facing statements or actions that deal with traumatic events. Ideally, this team involves not only senior leaders, but people across disciplines who are connected to key stakeholders, such as customers, partners, clients and the community in general. 
• Incorporate an inclusive and equitable lens that considers the perspectives of people who are most affected by the issue. This requires expanding the breadth of voices and sentiments heard by your organization. If decision-makers are reading the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal, ensure they are also paying attention to media that serve Black, Indigenous, Latina/o/x, LGBTQ+ and other diverse perspectives. Examples of diverse and ethnic media outlets include NBC Asian America, The Root, NPR Latino USA, Indian Country Today, LGBTQ Nation, among others.   
• When hosting staff meetings or town halls to provide space for collective processing and discussion, identify a skilled DEI facilitator to lead the discussion. In addition to empathy and inclusiveness, a skilled facilitator must also be adept at redirecting the conversation to focus on the stated goals of the discussion. Ensure that the facilitator can handle objections to DEI-related topics, and emphasize the importance of the organization’s values.  

The WTIA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Center of Excellence offers strategic guidance through leadership consulting and coaching opportunities. Our team can provide expert advice about implementing DEI strategies that prioritize employee engagement, well-being and psychological safety. Learn more.