How to Help Your Employees Following a Critical Incident

1. Following a critical incident, everyone will have some type of an emotional response. 
2. Each person will recover at his/her own rate. Recovery can be a long and difficult process. 
3. Tell your employees how you feel and that you are sorry they have been hurt. Avoid statements like “I know how you feel” or “Everything will be alright.” These types of statements can make some employees feel like their feelings are not understood or have been discounted. 
4. Be willing to say nothing. In some situations, just being there may be the most supportive thing you can do to help. 
5. Remind people that their painful feelings are a normal reaction to an abnormal event. 
6. Attempting to explain why this incident happened is not helpful. Your explanation may not be believed and may hurt your professional relationship with your employees.
7. Encourage your employees to ask for help from their Best Care Employee Assistance Program. If the employee would like, offer to make an appointment for him/her. It may also be appropriate to offer transportation if you feel the employee should not drive at the time. 

1. Best Care EAP will work with company representatives to determine the best initial response to the incident. This could include having an EAP professional at the worksite to be available for consultation and counseling services. Support services can be provided to individual employees or a group of employees impacted by the incident. 
2. Best Care EAP will be available to schedule individual sessions at the EAP office with employees who need further counseling. 
3. Best Care EAP will be accessible to management for consultation regarding other needs related to the critical incident. This may include dealing with victims’ families, dealing with the media, or ongoing employee support issues. 
4. Best Care EAP offers support and assistance to supervisors of the impacted employees and can arrange for follow-up meetings as needed.
5. Best Care EAP staff are available as consultants if the manager needs assistance in determining whether impacted employees are ready to return to work. 
6. Best Care EAP will follow-up and monitor activities until the company is satisfied the incident has been successfully dealt with. 

For more information about managing a critical incident at your workplace, call (402) 354-8000 or (800) 801-4182.