ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the responses of employees to traumatic incidents at work. Although organisational policies and procedures have a strong influence on employee behaviours at times of trauma, the psychological contract formed between the employee and the organisation is an equally powerful influence. The employee's responses to trauma are described in a three-phase model. This model separates the responses at the time of the trauma from the acute responses following the trauma and the chronic responses, some of which may last for many years. Typical employee responses at each trauma phase are illustrated with case material taken from workplace settings. Finally, the chapter returns to the importance of the psycho-logical contract and describes how organisational care programmes can be enhanced or damaged by the way the organisation deals with the aftermath of the trauma and its traumatised employees.
