4 Ways To Prevent Employee ‘Work Wounds’ From Contaminating Work Culture In 2024

If you think bullying is something only children have to worry about, you’re wrong. A poll on workplace bullying found that 75% of employees reported being affected as either a target or witness. The Workplace Bullying Institute reports that 79.3 million U.S. workers are affected by workplace bullying, and it remains mostly a top-down pattern, with 65% of bullies being bosses.

No matter how prevalent workplace bullying and abuses are, business leaders must never normalize or turn a deaf ear to the problem. According to an employment law attorney I spoke with, many members of the workforce have experienced profound “work wounds”—from bullying to bad behavior to feelings of work betrayal. Bree Johnson, founder and CEO of Executive Unschool, told me that these unaddressed work wounds perpetuate on-going harm, loss of productivity and unhealthy behaviors in the workplace.

“My clients come to me when they want to enhance their workplace culture but feel mired in the churn and burn of top talent,” Johnson says. “What they are failing to properly recognize and handle, is the reality that their people have experienced profound work wounds.”

Deeply-Rooted Workplace Issues

Johnson says executives and high achieving leaders are feeling more stressed and overwhelmed than ever. She cites data showing that Job dissatisfaction rates are staggeringly high, and people are reporting the troubling rates of burnout. She also points out that he EEOC reported an insidious trend of employment lawsuits and claims on the rise, leaving company leaders to wonder what can be done to combat the grave impact of all of this on workplace culture.

Johnson is convinced that at the root of many workplace challenges are work wounds. “Work wounds are caused by deeply painful and rupturing experiences at work,” she notes. “In my work and research, I’ve boiled work wounds down to the three B’s: Bullying, Betrayal and Bad Behavior. When an employee experiences a work wound, it’s often an unhealed wound that festers in the workplace. And it leads to conflicts with colleagues, focus and productivity declines and even lawsuits. But the most forward-thinking employers acknowledge work wounds and take proactive steps to mitigate them from happening in the first place.”

Misconceptions About Work Culture

You wouldn’t put a band-aid on skin cancer, and Johnson posits that one of the biggest misconceptions about work culture and employee engagement is that offering perks, benefits or band-aid approaches can override deeper issues. “Companies invest thousands of waste in performative wellness programs, conferences and travel and superficial team-building activities that they hope will solve their problems,” she observes. “However, without addressing underlying work wounds infecting the company’s culture, these efforts are akin to placing a bandage on a much larger wound.”

Johnson also believes there’s a misconception that work wounds are isolated incidents or personal problems rather than systemic issues that affect the entire organization. “Leaders may overlook or dismiss behaviors that contribute to a toxic culture, such as microaggressions, unchecked competition, reports of bullying and bad behavior, thinking they’re just part of the ‘norm’ or that they will go away in time,” she states.

But she also acknowledges that some organizations are getting it right and taking innovative approaches to heal work wounds. As an example, she cites a tech company client that implemented a comprehensive and immersive inner leadership development program, allowing managers, directors and executives to enhance their understanding of work wounds and how their own habits perpetuate unnecessary suffering in the workplace.

“Similarly, several C-Suite clients are using nervous system regulation practices in the workplace to help reduce conflict, tension and work wounds,” she says. “These companies are not only addressing the symptoms of work wounds but are also proactively working to prevent them by fostering a culture of transparency, accountability and psychological safety.”

How Companies Can Address Work Wounds

According to the Workplace Bullying Institute, employers tend to encourage, defend, rationalize, discount or deny bullying. If you’re a leader of an organization, you can’t afford to allow work wounding—bullying, betrayal, cyberbullying or other bad behaviors—to continue because it abuses employees and harms your bottom line. Workplace performance drops, and the company’s integrity is compromised. Minimizing, covering up or turning your head the other way, in effect, creates a toxic culture for all employees. Addressing work wounds requires a multifaceted approach, according to Johnson, who offers four basic strategies.

1. Acknowledge the problem. Johnson suggests that leaders must first recognize that work wounds exist and are detrimental to both employees and the organization. She says this involves creating spaces for open dialogue where employees can share their experiences without fear of retaliation.
2. Invest in regulation. Johnson recommends equipping managers and employees with nervous system regulation training that focuses on emotional intelligence, conflict resolution and working through harmful behaviors by regulating the nervous system. She told me that this involves two facets: inner leadership development and mindfulness practices and how to use them in the workplace. “Most people are already dis-regulated by overwhelm and stress at work when they feel further activated by work wounds and therefore nervous system regulation practices are the best way to slow down out of an autopilot response,” she explains, adding that it helps to create a more empathetic and supportive work environment.
3. Provide support resources. Johnson advises offering access to counseling, executive and leadership private mentorship and other mental health resources to help employees heal from past work wounds. Plus, she emphasizes the importance of encouraging employees to seek help when needed to reduce the long-term impact of work wounds.
4. Foster a culture of empowerment. Johnson is an advocate of ditching outdated beliefs that employees need to be monitored, managed and scrutinized. Instead, she encourages the creation of a culture of empowerment where employees are trusted, their ideas are valued and their past experiences are acknowledged and respected.

A Final Word

“Work wounds are a silent epidemic in the modern workplace—that physical harm from which will soon be akin to smoking cigarettes —but they don’t have to dictate the future of any organization,” Johnson asserts. “By recognizing the existence of work wounds in employees, taking proactive measures such as nervous system regulation training, and fostering a culture of empowerment and trust, leaders can turn the tide.”

She insists this approach not only mitigates the negative impacts on individual employees but also enhances overall productivity, reduces turnover and creates a more resilient and positive workplace culture. “It’s imperative for leaders to shift their focus from merely managing work culture to actively healing it,” she concludes. “After all, a healthy workplace isn’t just about perks—it’s about people.”