- Outline and summarise the policies related to debriefing and crisis procedures within the organisation.
There are different types of policies that are related to the debriefing and the crisis procedures. There can be many different issues that are arising within an organization and there are also some or the other policies that must be used in order to solve those issues. Some of the policies are as follows-
Suicide prevention policy
This policy is useful in supporting the employee welfare by giving them right advices so that they can cope up with the huge work pressure. Emotional stress is one of the major reasons behind the workplace issues and employee attrition as well. Employee attrition must be checked for the welfare of firms. However implementing this policy helps in giving moral support to the clients in distress and also gives them assistance so that no suicide issues takes place.
Mental health and well being policy
This policy tries to protect the mental wellness of employees. All the employees must be given the facility of working in a free environment with no extra stress so that they can have a sound mind and work in a proper way.
Privacy Policy
Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) are the important acts that falls under this aspect. This policy tries to ensure that all the personal data of employees are being safeguarded and protected.
Communication policy
This policy ensures that all the business decisions and others are being communicated properly so that the work is done in a proper manner. This policy helps in ensuring that the knowledge is being properly shared among all the stakeholders so that all the employees can take part in the communication process.
Injury and incident reporting policy
This policy helps in protecting the overall health of workers. However it is for this reason that this policy supports the investigation of all the incidents taking place so that it can be stopped from re occurring in future. It also includes Hazard reporting and maintenance programs to minimize the workplace accidents or dangerous occurrences. Their motif is to develop a zero accident rate.
Work health and safety policy
This policy tries ensuring that all the employees working in an organization are being covered under the safety or the insurance plans.Ongoing development of management must be continued so that the risks can be identified and solutions can be developed.
Duty of care policy
This policy is one that takes care of the employees. In addition to this it asks them to understand and also implement all the appropriate procedures
- Research and explain what the workplace’s dispute resolution policies and procedures are.
- The complaint handling procedure must be followed so that all the involved parties are able to get the right solution at the right point of time
- The directors trying to solve the dispute must act promptly without delay and also mist ask for apology for the inconvenience caused from the person who is making the compliant first
- The complaint that is made verbally must be documented so that there is a written record and can be referred to as and when needed.
- The management team of the workplace must be informed immediately within next 24 hours so that there is no delay.
- The person who is trying to solve the issue must be an outsider and not any staff member who is himself or herself involved in the complaint
- Any part of the resolution process that is complicated must be immediately put under some other experts so that the right solution is available
- Outline three legal and ethical factors a worker may have to consider when conducting a debriefing session.
Right to privacy
The privacy of people involved is one of the major factors. Any kinds of surveys or any other data collection methods being carried out for the sake of the conflict resolutions must be kept private so that there is no loss of personal data and also people are able assured that there will be no loss of their personal information. Fair Works Act 2009 must be used. It is an Australian Act that has been enacted to safeguard employees and their rights in the workplace. Employees will be protected with the help of this act.
Duty of care
The other important responsibility is to e sire that there is no future harm being caused to any individual. If it is comprehended that there can be some harm, the same must be mitigated. The person who is conducting the debriefing session must try to ensure that none of the participants are harmed in any way. Balance of safety, community and personal safety all must be maintained so that there is no chance of any harm.
Confidentiality
Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles are considered under the confidentially and privacy aspect. While an individual is on a debriefing session he or she is legally and ethically obliged to keep all the information secured and there must not be any leak out of that information.
Anti discrimination must be maintained throughout. The person conducting the debriefing sessions must ensure that there is fair treatment to all and there is no direct or indirect discrimination being carried on among employees. Acts like Racial Discrimination Act 1975, Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986, Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 and others must be strictly followed so that none of the individuals have to face any discriminations.
- a) Describe three best intervention practices when working with clients in a crisis during a de-brief session.
- Not getting in too deep-This is because the client must be allowed some relaxation time so that he or she is able to mix properly and then be able to trust the therapist. Only then they will be able to give the right answer
- To stay positive and knowing that there is some way out-A person handling a crisis affected client must know that they have to stay positive and help the patient to come out from this situation. This can be done by staying really positive and also by helping in knowing the issues in a very prominent manner
- Averting a crisis-It is needed that the therapist is able to avert the crisis and also get the help from other people like policemen, social workers and other doctors or nurses in order to solve these issues.
b)List and outline the seven (7) stages of Critical Incident StressDebriefing (CISD).
- A thorough audit must be conducted so that the actual impact of the critical incident is known on the support personnel and the survivor
- The immediate persisting issues that are in need of safety and security must be guaranteed
- A defusing method has to be used so that there is no hesitation and all the involved persons are able to exchange their thoughts, understandings and also emotions. It is essential to ensure that there is free flow of emotions without any kinds of hesitations.
- There must be a prediction of the issues or the events that can arise in the near future
- “Systematic Review of the Critical Incident” must be conducted so that there is a clear information available about the impacts that it would have on the emotional, cognitive and also physical wellbeing of the survivors (Mitchell, 2020).
- Re building process must be started so that the survivors are able to get the immediate support and also they are brought close to the community.
- De Briefing process must take place in such a way that the survivors are able to make a re- entry into the community and also their workplaces. In other words they are able to get back to the state of normalcy and also resume the normal ways of living.
c) Give two (2) examples of how you would decide to refer staff to either internal or external referral sources following a de-brief session.
Internal referral sources
- I will ask some other senior member to assess the case history by interviewing the involved employees. I must realize that if there is some very critical case then I must try to get the help from my seniors. This is because they are much more experienced and will surely help me in getting the work done. They will also be able to give me information about the Acts and the rules that are present and that which can be used.
- Interviewing the team leaders so that they are able to give some good information on this aspect. Team leaders are the ones who have the idea about the activities of each members. They will be able to provide the past history and records of all the people who are involved in the crisis and also the core reasons that gave way to the crisis state.
- Describe three possible indicators of significant stress related issues being demonstrated by an employee and ways to respond to them.
- Employees becoming unmindful and making mistakes in the work
Responding to them
- Developing one to one meeting sessions so that all the issues are known and solutions can be found out (Strömbäck et al., 2020)
- Having difficulty in taking right decisions at right point of time and lack of logical thinking
- Work Health and Safety Act 2011 can be used so that employees are assured about the safeguarding of their health. There will be no harm caused to the health of employees. Even if other people or externals are visiting the company, employees will be kept safe.
Responding to them
- Developing for some employee counseling session and mental health help system
Employees becoming violent and suffering of physical ailments like digestive system disorders, heartaches.
Disability Discrimination Act 1992 must be used so that none of the employees are suffering from any bullies at the hand of their colleagues (employsure.com.au. 2020).
Responding to them
Develop for some open horizontal communication session and also let employees take some leaves so that they get adequate rest and check up
- Describe the impact of the following on an employee.
- excessive stress
- Employees will suffer from lack of concentration
- Employees will become irritated and behave rudely
- burn out
- Lack of concentration among employees which will hamper the work
- Irritation and slow pace of moving on with the work
- grief and loss
- Employees will no longer have the motivation of working
- They will also stay upset and there will be an environment of stress all around the workplace atmosphere
- violent or threatening behavior
- Employees who are having threatening and violent behavior can attack others without any reason
- The overall workplace atmosphere will be impacted because the such violent employees can attack each other at any point of time and the overall quality of work will be impacted.
- Outline and discuss three strategies employees can use to manage stress.
- Changing the demand so the work that is the way in which the work is designed. The workplace environment must be reformed and re-structured so that the employees can fit in well and also the workload must be divided so that maximum work pressure is not coming on any particular employee (Leka, Griffiths & Cox, 2005).
- Employee training and development session must be developed so that all the employees are able to perform their work with the needed skill and knowledge (Tarquinio et al., 2016)
- Employee control over the work must be improved and increased. Managers must not impose their views or opinions on employees but allow them to use the other aspects like getting back up, job sharing, flexi time shift, more consultation with each other such activities (Wang,Wang & Chen, 2018).
- In your work role as a Debriefer, your decision making abilities and responses have been influenced by an employee disclosing personal information about a recent relationship breakdown. The employee is seeking your advice on theirrelationship.
- Summarise the specific limitations and professional boundaries of your work role in this situation.
The professional boundary is that trying to solve a relationship breakdown issue means to interfere into the personal life of the survivor and this is unethical and must be avoided on all fronts.
This is unethical because if an employee is coming to seek advice on issues like lack of professional knowledge, workplace conflicts with any other co worker then it is ethical and also justified to help him or her out. However relationship is an entirely different issue and is related to the personal lives of that employee. Therefore without knowing any issue from all the people involved it is unethical to give any solutions.
- What are the barriers in this situation for you as a worker?
Interfering in to the personal life or personal relationships of an employee is not wise and is also unethical. As a worker I can only undertake the debriefing work on some professional issues and not on any personal issues of the employee.
One of the barrier is an a worker of the same office, I must not interfere in the personal affairs
The other barrier is I will never be able to know all the bits and pieces of the case or all the information without meeting with the person with whom the employee is or was in a relationship
- What should you do if you feel that your professional boundaries have been compromised and work role responsibilities have been breached?
I must consult with some seniors employees or with some senior co workers as to how the situation has resulted into something like breach of the work responsibilities.
This is the time to go and get some HR assistance as well. It can happen that some policies or rules might exist which are out of my knowledge or have been newly added. In such cases it is the HR department who will be able to help me out and also get the work done.
- What stressors might arise for workers from other cultural and linguistic backgrounds in the workplace? (Identify at least 4 stressors)
- There can be frequent conflicts arising between employees coming from varied cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Bullying of employees can take place (Robert, 2018).This might lead to stressors like lack of concentration among employees or making some severe mistakes in the work.
- Lack of coordination among team members leading to issues in the work- If there is a lack in coordination then employees will not be able to understand the actual issues and will waste all their time, resources and their energy on the conflicts rather than using it for some productive works. Therefore the person trying to solve the workplace issues must always try to listen to queries and also get the help from other people like negotiators, conflict resolving experts and others so that the issue is solved.
- Employees suffering from identity crisis- Employees who suffer from identity crisis must be taken for some employee counselling sessions. This will help them to get back their lost confidence and they can work with a proper confidence level
- Employees suffering from physical issues like headache, heart disease and others- Employees suffering from health issues must be given some relaxation time and also some ,medical help so that they are able to get back to the stage of normalcy and then be able to come back and take up the pace of work.
Employees must be given the facilities of working from home. This flexibility will allow them to get some rest and then be able to work properly.
References
Caillier, J. G. (2020). The Impact of Workplace Aggression on Employee Satisfaction With Job Stress, Meaningfulness of Work, and Turnover Intentions. Public Personnel Management, 0091026019899976.
employsure.com.au. (2020). Employsure AU. https://employsure.com.au/guides/employment-contracts-and-legislation/employment-law-in-australia/
Leka, S., Griffiths, A., & Cox, T. (2005). who.int. Who.int. https://www.who.int/occupational_health/publications/pwh3rev.pdf
Mitchell, J. (2020). info-trauma.org. Info-trauma.org. http://www.info-trauma.org/flash/media-f/mitchellCriticalIncidentStressDebriefing.pdf
Robert, F. (2018). Impact of workplace bullying on job performance and job stress. Journal of Management Info, 5(3), 12-15.
Strömbäck, M., Fjellman-Wiklund, A., Keisu, S., Sturesson, M., & Eskilsson, T. (2020). Restoring confidence in return to work: A qualitative study of the experiences of persons with exhaustion disorder after a dialogue-based workplace intervention. PloS One, 15(7), e0234897.
Tarquinio, C., Rotonda, C., Houllé, W. A., Montel, S., Rydberg, J. A., Minary, L., … & Alla, F. (2016). Early psychological preventive intervention for workplace violence: a randomized controlled explorative and comparative study between EMDR-recent event and critical incident stress debriefing. Issues in mental health nursing, 37(11), 787-799.
Wang, C. T., Wang, H. L., & Chen, Y. C. K. (2018). A Study of Crisis Response Strategies for Crisis Handling. International Journal of Crisis Management, 8(1), 41-49.
Wong, V., & Au‐Yeung, T. C. (2019). Expediting youth’s entry into employment whilst overlooking precariousness: Flexi‐employability and disciplinary activation in Hong Kong. Social Policy & Administration, 53(5), 793-809.
