Incest 0000i-xiv FM 1 - William L. White

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t h e i n c e st u o u s wo r k p lac e
The Loss of Replenishment. American workers in nearly ever sector of
the economy report experiencing increases in the frequency and intensity
of demands being made on them. To sustain such giving over time,
each worker must have resources of physical, emotional, social, and spiritual
replenishment outside the organization. Regularly replenished
through these outside resources, the worker can continue to enter the
high-stress environment and respond to increased demands. Lacking
such replenishment, the worker will become physically and emotionally
depleted. In a state of depletion, the worker is likely to respond in one
of three ways. The first is to continue to meet the excessive demands—a
sacrifice that will eventually produce serious symptoms of impairment.
The second is to inadvertently exploit relationships in the work environment
to address one’s unmet needs. The third way is to begin to
physically and emotionally detach from the work unit as an act of selfprotection.
Loss of Nonwork Roles. In the last chapter, we described how professional
closure increased one’s vulnerability to distress by constricting
one’s professional identity to experiences one has in his or her primary
workplace. Social closure escalates this vulnerability by cutting off the
roles one performs outside the workplace. The increased amount of time
staff members spend with each other decreases their participation in
nonwork relationships and roles. It cuts staff members off from activities
that affirm a sense of self outside the work environment. The resulting
isolation can be particularly troublesome to workers who may later
find themselves scapegoated in the organization.
Distortion of Personal Values. Some workers’ face situations and experiences
that can color their view of the world. The police officer, the
doctor or nurse, the welfare worker, the teacher, and the rescue worker
are just a few of the people who daily confront disease and disorder.
Whether they must cope with the physical deformity of the diseased or
injured, or the prolonged exposure to the victims of human neglect and
violence, these workers must balance and reconcile the realities of their
work with a broader perspective on life. When one’s social network becomes
totally work dominated, such perspective is lost. One’s view of
the world becomes increasingly distorted. The whole world begins to
look screwed up, and one’s life seems like a constant confrontation with
craziness and pain. During professional and social closure, things can