Such environments, facilitated by a set of evidence-based tools for leaders, may be particularly powerful in helping adult survivors of childhood trauma break old patterns and thrive.
Childhood adversity, referred to as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), is widespread and affects the well-being of a large portion of the workforce.
How Childhood Adversity Can Resonate in the WorkplaceACEs encompass a range of early-life hardships.
Newman, et al., “If the Body Keeps the Score, What Happens When You Bring the Body to Work?
Lambert, “Childhood Adversity and Neural Development: Deprivation and Threat as Distinct Dimensions of Early Experience,” Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 47 (November 2014): 578-591, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.10.012.
Donna Grethen/Ikon Images
Summary: A large percentage of individuals have experienced adverse childhood events that can cause troublesome psychological and behavioral issues in adulthood. Positive workplace experiences and managers who attend to employee well-being in specific ways can help all employees thrive. Such environments, facilitated by a set of evidence-based tools for leaders, may be particularly powerful in helping adult survivors of childhood trauma break old patterns and thrive.
Over the past few decades, there has been burgeoning interest in how leaders and organizations can support employees in the aftermath of traumatic events.1 But there is another pervasive and often hidden source of trauma that originates well before individuals enter the workforce. Childhood adversity, referred to as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), is widespread and affects the well-being of a large portion of the workforce.
Recent estimates suggest that 60% of adults worldwide have faced one ACE, and 16% have faced four or more.2 ACEs shape employees’ self-perceptions, job attitudes, behaviors, and workplace relationships, typically in ways that undermine their well-being and functioning. In light of this, we are sharing a new, evidence-based toolkit for organizations and leaders seeking to design healthier work environments that can attenuate the enduring effects of childhood adversity for their employees.
How Childhood Adversity Can Resonate in the Workplace
ACEs encompass a range of early-life hardships. They include interpersonal problems, such as abuse or neglect; household dysfunction, such as divorce, domestic violence, criminality, or substance abuse; the death of or separation from family members; and witnessing or being the victim of community violence. ACEs also include physical or mental health issues in the home and economic adversity. In short, ACEs cause both direct and indirect harm to children. Such situations are typically experienced as harsh, unpredictable, dysregulating, and shaming, and are characterized by a lack of agency and control.
ACEs lead to psychological and physiological changes that persist into adulthood. They include blunted cortisol responses to stress, or the body is not releasing cortisol as needed; heightened reactivity of the amygdala, which leads people to perceive threats where there are none; and diminished hippocampal gray matter volume, which is linked with memory impairment, cognitive and emotional difficulties, and mood disorders.3
The workplace implications of these changes mean that ACE survivors are more likely to experience low self-worth, risk aversion, turnover intentions, emotional distress, job strain, low job performance, and dismissal and are often the targets or perpetrators of workplace mistreatment. These outcomes can leave adults feeling chained to their traumatic pasts.4 As American author William Faulkner wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.�
About the Authors Payal Sharma is an associate professor of management at Lee Business School at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Liza Barnes is an assistant professor of management at the LeBow College of Business at Drexel University. Neeraj Rao is director of business development at Turbine, an AI biotech company. The authors are grateful to Jacqueline Harris for her guidance.
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