The Business Community Should Care About Child Abuse Too
What if I told you, that all those businesses that are struggling to find good workers in the current labor market, or who are losing workdays due to various mental or physical health issues, should be thinking about long term solutions to the problem?
What if I also told you that many of these issues, a shortage of people with the skills necessary to do the job, and mental health struggles, could be directly tied in many cases to childhood trauma?
Would it not make sense to look into ways to prevent childhood trauma?
I’ve been writing about this for years. (In fact, I recently shared a post that is 10 years old on this very topic.) Children who are being abused generally do not develop the social skills necessary to navigate adulthood until much later. They are too busy just surviving their trauma. They struggle with going to college and getting a degree, holding down a job, interacting with other professionals, networking, etc.
Basically, all the things you wish your employees could be better at.
Prevent Child Abuse America put together this information in a nice, one-page PDF a couple of years ago, also available on their website. The numbers might be a little outdated now, but I’d be willing to bet they may even be worse.
So, businesses, what will you do to encourage better childhood development in order to increase your chances of having a skilled labor force in the future?
