The crisis in the Middle East is having repercussions for employers around the globe. From supporting employees who are experiencing the crisis first-hand to the families trying to manage worry and personal impacts abroad, the human impact across global organizations is significant.
When stress levels rise across an organization, Human Resource leaders and managers often become the first line of responders. The quality of the support shown to employees can make or break how a team weathers the storm.
“When a crisis strikes, HR teams become the first line of support. It’s important for HR leaders to know they don’t need to have all the answers; they just need the right framework to guide their response with empathy and a clear understanding of what matters in the moment,” says Kenny Zuckerberg, Vice President of Learning and Organizational Excellence at ComPsych.
Understanding How Stress Shows Up at Work
Before managers can respond effectively to employee stress, they need to recognize how the different ways this can manifest in the workplace. There are typically four key ways stress shows up:
- Physically. Employees may begin complaining of headaches, back pain, fatigue, or other physical ailments. This isn’t coincidence — the mind-body connection is real, and chronic stress has documented physical effects.
- Emotionally. Expect to see more emotional volatility: tearfulness, irritability, angry outbursts, or a general sense of being overwhelmed.
- Cognitively. Stressed employees often struggle to focus, retain information, meet deadlines, or complete tasks that would normally be routine.
- Behaviorally. In more serious cases, stress can manifest in changes in behavior — increased absenteeism, withdrawal from colleagues, or in some instances, an uptick in risky behaviors like substance use or gambling.
Recognizing these signs early gives leaders the chance to respond proactively.
Know Your Role
Here’s one of the most critical boundaries in crisis leadership: managers are not therapists, doctors, or financial advisors. When we care about the people we work with, the instinct to “fix” their problems is natural. But overstepping into those roles doesn’t just risk causing harm; it puts an unsustainable emotional burden on leaders themselves.
Your role as a manager during times of stress is to be:
- An empathetic leader who sees the humanity in your team members
- A manager of performance who continues to hold fair, consistent standards
- A knowledgeable resource who can connect employees to the right support whether that’s an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), mental health benefits, HR, or other company resources
The role of being a trusted resource for employees is critical during times of crisis, and it becomes far more effective when leaders are clear about where their responsibilities begin and end.
Language Matters: “I” Statements vs. “You” Statements
The words we choose in difficult conversations can either open a dialogue or shut it down entirely. One of the most effective communication adjustments a leader can make is shifting from “You” language to “I” language.
“You” statements put people on the defensive even if they’re accurate. “I” statements, on the other hand, keep the conversation focused on impact and observation rather than accusation.
Consider these examples:
Instead of this…Try this…
- “You don’t respond well when people give you feedback.” Vs “I’m concerned about the responses I’ve gotten when I’ve given you feedback.”
- “Your tone of voice is inappropriate for a professional environment.” Vs “I think it’s important to maintain a professional tone even when you’re upset.”
- “Your negative attitude is affecting the whole workplace.” Vs “I’m concerned about the effect that some of your statements are having on the workplace.”
The underlying message doesn’t change — but the delivery shifts from confrontational to collaborative, significantly increasing the chance that the employee actually hears it.
Focus on Facts, Not Judgments
In the same vein, stressed and heightened conversations benefit from grounding in observable facts rather than subjective judgments. Judgment-based feedback (“Your work has been sloppy lately”) activates defensiveness. Fact-based feedback (“There have been several typos in the documents you’ve submitted this month — I’ve printed them out and circled the errors”) opens a path forward.
Facts are neutral. Judgments are not. When leading difficult conversations during high-stress periods, the more you can anchor your observations in specific, documented behaviors and outcomes, the more productive the exchange will be.
Empathy and Validation: The Core of Crisis Conversations
When addressing performance issues, it’s common for employees to pivot to personal struggles. A manager who isn’t prepared for this can either over-engage (stepping into therapist territory) or shut down (making the employee feel dismissed). Neither outcome is helpful.
The right response involves two things working together:
Empathy: genuinely trying to understand what the other person is experiencing: “I can see this is a very difficult situation for you.”
Validation: affirming that their response is understandable and human: “It is completely normal to feel this way in times like these.”
Once you’ve offered empathy and validation, you can gently redirect the conversation to the performance or behavioral concern you originally needed to address. The employee doesn’t need you to solve their personal problems; they need to feel seen before they can engage.
Overcoming Your Own Fear of These Conversations
It would be dishonest not to acknowledge that approaching a visibly distressed employee is uncomfortable. Most managers will feel the instinct to give someone who is visibly stressed their space, avoid the subject, or hope things resolve on their own.
This instinct to minimize contact with suffering is deeply human. But avoidance doesn’t protect the employee. It leaves them without support at the moment they need it most.
The shift in mindset that makes these conversations manageable is this: you are not trying to fix the problem or eliminate the pain. You cannot do that. What you can do is show up, listen, and connect them to resources. In the moment, that is enough – and it matters more than you know.
The Bottom Line
Managing people through crisis is one of the hardest and most important things HR leaders do. It asks you to hold space for others’ suffering while maintaining your own stability, to enforce performance standards while leading with empathy, and to stay in your lane while making sure no one falls through the cracks.
You don’t have to be a therapist. You don’t have to have the perfect words. You just have to show up, stay grounded, lead by example and know your resources.
That’s enough. And in the hardest moments, it’s everything.
