It may not be something that you have thought about when you head into work on a typical day. The question of how emotionally intelligent (EI) you are is one that is likely to have never crossed your mind. However, a recent study looked at the importance of emotional intelligence for people who are in high-risk jobs and it found that those with a high EI needed far less safety training then those with lower EI. This important finding could lead to better hiring practices and fewer Connecticut workers’ compensation claims in the long run.
Before you can identify those with high EI you must define emotional intelligence. According to Psychology Today emotional intelligence is “the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others.” In other words, those with high EI are cool under pressure and can maintain an environment of calmness around stressful situations in the workforce.
Back to the study which was conducted by Australian researchers who interviewed 133 commercial pilots who have high stress jobs that require a high degree of emotional intelligence. The study found that those who demonstrated high EI did not require as much safety training as those that had lower EI. The study did not say that those with high EI do not need safety training at all, but it wasn’t as critical to those with lower EI.
Jobs that have a high degree of stress and specifically those that take others' lives in their own hands, like that of an airline pilot, rely on the person performing the job to keep a cool head and maintain strong situational awareness. It is for this reason that companies who do have jobs that are safety-critical must work to recruit individuals with high EI to have employees who can perform their duties at a high level.
Once hired, it is incumbent on managers to continually assess and reassess how effective safety training is for it’s employees so that even those with high EI are put in a position to succeed. If not, it could have catastrophic results and lead to a Connecticut workers’ compensation claim.
Whatever industry you are in and however high or low your emotional intelligence is, once you’re hired to do a job if you get injured on that job you may need to speak with an attorney to review your claim. Contact our office and one of our board certified attorneys will speak with you about your case.
