What does workplace trauma have to do with ‘The Great Resignation?’
How a lack of psychological safety can impact worker satisfaction
3 min read | Illustration by Anthony Orozco
The pandemic was a true reckoning for workers that prompted a questioning of the relationship between the self and the job. As social exchange theory would have it, there were finally enough costs to the professional relationship compared to the rewards that made it worth terminating their professional relationship...at least for those privileged enough to have the scales tip in their favor. This once-in-a-generation rethinking of the role of work has many questioning if their professional relationships are healthy. If someone has endured trauma in the workplace they may be more likely to leverage the pandemic to find psychological safety.
Many of us know that what makes a relationship between two people in a romantic partnership abusive has to do with control. One person has control over someone else’s emotional, psychological, or financial wellbeing – and sometimes the person being abused feels they can’t leave because of this dependence on basic needs. A similar power imbalance occurs between workers and institutions, where workers depend on institutions for their livelihood - including income, healthcare, and other benefits.
When institutions or managers violate a worker’s trust, trauma occurs because it’s happening within a trusted relationship. Workers don’t always have the kinds of resources to leave a toxic and unhealthy work environment, like those in an abusive romantic or other codependent relationship. This kind of violation is called ‘Institutional Betrayal,’ a term coined by psychologist and researcher, Dr. Jennifer Freyd.
We saw the concept of Institutional Betrayal play out during the pandemic when essential workers were required to report to duty, often without the proper protective gear to perform their jobs safely. But an employer’s behavior doesn’t need to be life-or-death to constitute ‘Institutional Betrayal.’
Institutional betrayal at work also looks like misleading communication, dismissing employee needs, or making decisions without keeping employees in mind. We saw this play out when workers continued to work long hours for bosses that didn’t acknowledge the trauma of the pandemic, and who suggested that remote work gave workers a 'break.’
“For those lucky enough to work remotely from the pandemic, being asked to return to work served as another form of violation, this time of trust.”
For many employees, organizations asked them to “step up” during the pandemic to meet changing market needs, while at the same time dismissing concerns about employees welfare or job solvency. Workers continued to push through their work commitments during a global pandemic, often without the wages, childcare support, or health care they needed – which made the prospect of back-to-work mandates feel especially cruel.
For those lucky enough to work remotely from the pandemic, being asked to return to work served as another form of violation, this time of trust. Sarah Shuster, a therapist at Downtown Somatic Therapy and an Executive Functioning consultant for workers says her clients often repeated some version of, “if I’ve shown you how I can continue to get the work done all this time, a back-to-work mandate tells me you don’t trust me.”
In an often-unspoken way, workers perceive flexibility as a sign of trust. Leaders’ mandates communicate that they don’t trust their employees, so workers are leaving for someone who will. In a prolonged health care crisis, Shuster shares that “it’s easy to see how a workplace's vision for success can feel at odds with workers' own experience.”
And if someone is already in a job where they don’t trust that they’re psychologically safe – meaning they don’t feel they can admit mistakes, ask for or provide feedback, and fail without major consequences – then there’s a compounding ‘institutional betrayal’ effect.
“Workers are still experiencing a deep sense of betrayal, when employers take on a ‘business-as-usual’ mentality amid ‘anything-but-usual’ circumstances.”
Since Institutional Betrayal also tends to occur when Institutions prioritize their own interests, reputation, and profits over the well-being of workers, it’s no wonder that nearly two years into the coronavirus crisis, workers are still experiencing a deep sense of betrayal, when employers take on a ‘business-as-usual’ mentality amid ‘anything-but-usual’ circumstances. Shuster suggests that Institutions can begin to undo the trauma they’ve caused by owning up to their mistakes, meeting workers' needs head on, and deeply integrating workers into the decision-making process.