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Fix It Formula (for a Terrible Relationship with the Supevisor)

2012-01-26T11:37:00.000-05:00

Communication difficulties top the list of problems employees have with their bosses. Most boil down to five key issues. They include

Disparities in the amount of work assigned from one employee to the next.
Minimal praise or no recognition for a job well done
Dissatisfaction with pay and refusal to address it
Personality style and performance style differences
Minimal or no constructive feedback about performance

So, here is the Fix-It for Improving the Relationship with Your Supervisor...

Prior to meeting with your boss, define the real issue that is creating problems in your relationship. Consider whether you played a role. Did communication issues play a role?

Write down your concerns. Forget the small and petty stuff for now.

Meet with your supervisor and explain in plain, unemotional language your observations and concerns about the relationship.

Be positive in your energy and demeanor—not cocky, passive aggressive, or acting as if you are cornering your boss.

Wait for your supervisor’s response. He or she may agree or may have another opinion. Hang on every word. Do not be defensive.

Own your “half” of the relationship problem. It is unlikely you will get very far if you don’t accept the universal principle that each party in conflict plays a role in contributing to relationship problems.

Your goal is an improved relationship, not to find fault.

Ask for constructive feedback on your performance. Let your boss have the last word in this conversation.

Initiate regular contact with your boss going forward. As nationally known EA professional and mental health therapist, Dodie Gill, LPC frequently said, "Do not let a tree grow between you and your supervisor." EAP Employee Assistance Programs

Note: Sign up for free workplace wellness and human resources materials for HR

Tips for Employees: Being Cool with Disciplinary Actions

2012-01-12T16:36:00.000-05:00

TIPS FOR YOUR EMPLOYEES: Facing a corrective (disciplinary) action meeting will test your composure and professionalism. The winning strategy in most cases is to turn the predicament into a learning experience that leaves you determined to change and achieve. Here’s how to hit the reset switch and go from dread to determination. Understand that a corrective action or disciplinary meeting is an attempt to elevate behavior, not to punish an employee. It’s an educational tool. If you adopt this perspective, you’ll take a team approach with your supervisor and see performance as the issue of management’s concern, not you personally. Ask for a follow-up appointment to discuss progress if one is not given, or send short periodic reports of your progress to your supervisor. Naturally, rely upon your employee assistance program for ideas, support, encouragement, and help in reducing anxiety and worry. Get articles like this one every month with an employee newsletter or customized, easy, do it yourself editable newsletter--The FrontLine Employee

EAPs and the Talent Management Connection

2011-12-17T16:57:00.002-05:00

An employee’s most significant relationship in the work organization is the one with the supervisor. Unless this relationship is constructive and positive, the risk of losing a worker to another employer or worse to a competitor will remain unacceptably high. Kevin Sheridan, a business consultant specializing in talent management reports in his new book, Building a Magnetic Culture (2012), that engaged employees are ten times more likely to feel their work is recognized, that their supervisor and top management cares about them, and that they are getting useful regular feedback. Such employees are also four times less likely to leave. Obviously the supervisor is a key influence in helping employees get these needs met. EAPs have a role to play because their skills and abilities can help enhance the relationship that supervisors maintain with employees. Visible and strongly delivered EAP services naturally target the improvement of relationships, and are therefore an excellent strategy for increasing employee engagement, and in turn, the improvement of business outcomes. Excerpted from the Jan 2012 issue of FrontLine Supervisor EAP Newsletter for Supervisors.

No EAP Assessment and Help for Randy Babbit FAA Chief for Drunk Driving? Missed Opportunity Big Time.

2011-12-07T09:37:00.001-05:00

I don't know about you, but I am having mixed feelings about the resignation of Randy Babbit, the FAA chief who was arrested for drunk driving and resigned on Dec. 5. He offered his resignation and it was accepted. Yes, the significance of Babbit's position is important, but should he not get an assessment to see if he has an alcoholism problem? Then, should he not be offered treatment if he is diagnosable? Isn't this the way it is supposed work?

I don't think the Secretary of Transportation should have accepted the resignation (or requested it?). This entire incident is a RIPE opportunity for creating another powerful dialogue about occupational alcoholism and how we are supposed to salvage employees who have substance abuse problems--not for their sake, but for society at large!

Of course, this does not excuse Babbit's behavior. However, it does put the the FAA in the position of easily leveraging him into an assessment and then if needed, treatment for alcoholism after an assessment, if in fact he meets the criteria for the diagnosis of alcoholism.

Now, before you freak out on me for this post, do you realize that the FAA has followed over 1500 recovering alcoholic airline pilots and that the program has an outstanding success rate. The recovering pilot's program is run by the FAA Medical Examiner in Washington, D.C.? I have worked personally with some of these pilots have met the founder of this program when I was at Arlington Hospital Addiction Treatment Program between 1984 and 1995. You probably don't know about this program because it is not publicized. It was started in the 1970's after the GREAT PUSH to help alcoholics in the workplace. Remember that?

The bottom line is that there will always be alcoholic pilots, but identifying them early and leveraging them into treatment is the way to go. And the FAA does. It is the only common sense approach. If you do not do this, alcoholics will hide. And this incident with Babbit will make those employees with alcohol problems go further underground (and then emerge again even worse.)

Also, do realize that Babbit would have been offered an assessment and/or treatment--required by OPM as a firm choice arrangement or be fired in the 1970's and early 80's. For some reason then alcohol-related problems were considered sign of potential alcoholism whose symptoms were behaviors show up as things like drunk driving.

The ADA obliterated these protections and drove practicing alcoholics further underground after its passage. Don't believe me? Okay here is the proof:

Don't you think that after 40 years of enlightened medical and treatment professionals pounding the table to convince society that treating addicts is in everyone's interest that the FAA of all organizations, would stand up and get this guy in treatment, if needed?

I think EAPA should make a public statement about this. This superior executive with an incredible work history is now toast. If alcoholism exists, and it remains untreated, further alcohol problems will continue, and the untold costs will also continue. What will they be?

This was a missed opportunity for the advancement of society's education about alcoholism. I honestly think we had our act together in the mid-1970's, but in 2011, we are back in the dark ages with addictive disease.

Reducing Absenteeism: Yeah, EAPs Do That Dummy!

2011-10-14T11:00:00.000-04:00

There is a old threat to productivity rearing its ugly head in a new way - absenteeism. Before you say, "no kidding, Dan!", get this: The Washiongton Business Group Health ten years ago released a report, "Staying at Work" Report. It said, "properly targeted and executed disability and absence management programs can, in fact, produce real gains." They cite approaches that fail to mention EAPs in any way. I just do not understand this!

The ongoing interest in absenteeism problems stems from a survey conducted showing 78% of human resource managers believe the main cause of absenteeism is a belief that those who skip out of work believe they are entitled to time off. This is extremely interesting.

The second most cited reason was a lack of supervisor involvement as a catalyst to discourage worker absenteeism. This has EAP solutions written all over it.
There is no way to discover the occurrence rate of personal problems to the degree that they affect absenteeism through a survey of human resource managers like the one conducted by this Blue Ribbon group. Superimpose this fact on top of the empirically-based research paid for by EAPA members dues and conducted by Linda LaScola Research sometime around 1992-3?, which found that human resource managers don't know how to use EAPs efficiently, and you got yourself a real case for EAPs coming to the rescue.
The obvious problem: EAPs are not being used as management tools in American companies as they were in the 70's. Instead, they are seen as counseling programs predominantly for self-referral. Nothing in this research, and nothing in any article reporting it, ever mentioned anything about EAPs! However, in the 1970's the WBGH was a high-powered elite group that played a significant role in promoting the establishment of EAPs in Fortune 500 companies. (I suspect most of the folks at WBGH from 70's are retired. This might explain their institutional memory loss. That, combined with about 33 HR journals telling everyone that an EAP is something run by a managed care company with an 800#.)

What to do: Help spearhead an absenteeism management program that puts the EAP front and center. Consider new training, and ask the organization to give you access to their absenteeism report. Watch your EAP utilization spurt up. Let me know if they blow you off. I would love to know why. "EAPs don't do that" might be the key reason -- like they know what EAPs do better than you do! I have seen this a million times. You open your mouth at meeting, and someone says, "EAPs don't do that". Where does this stuff come from?

Do you have a newsletter for employees? If you do not, let prove something to you. You're utilization rate will go up 20% annualized with a monthly EAP newsletter (2 pages--never four!) or if it does not, I will publicly apologize in this blog at the end of a free three month trial.

So, let me send you a free trial. Don't worry, I will not chase you down waving a bill at you. Go here for it.

EAP Utilization Tip: Utilization Review & Hospital Social Workers

2011-09-28T08:54:00.000-04:00

How many hospitals are in your town? Medical social workers or utilization review nurses might be the busiest occupation on the planet with the most stress. The cut-backs in hospitals and the personnel shortages they face, have made social workers busier than ever--that's if they have not been fired yet. Some hospitals have let all of their hospital social workers go. They have replaced the bulk with utilization review nurses who line up support and medical help post-discharge.

They could use some help. And they would love to refer employees from the company or companies you serve who've ended up in the hospital for one reason or another. You could lighten their load and get the utilization credit for your program. Remember family members could use EAP services too, so make sure your statistics include "employees impacted" by EAP services.

In many instances, medical social workers perform the same kind of "brokerage" services for patients and their family members that EAPs do. (Brokerage is arranging services for the client without the client's involvement and then passing them off to that service or agency for continuing care or services.) Medical social workers interface with hospice services, meals on wheels, visiting nurse agencies, home health care, medical equipment companies, admission departments of nursing homes and assisted living facilities, social security disability and retirement offices of local government, many other services. If you have done this work as a medical social worker or hospital utilization nurse, you know that burnout is high. You're on the phone constantly. Help these hospital professionals by letting them know you exist. When a patient is admitted to the hospital, the EAP (that's you) can be contacted to help arrange support or other services. They instantly become a new EAP client referred to your program. Note that you will need to reinforce your availability for assisting the hospital with patients who are also employees of the companies you serve. I would arrange six monthly letters to the person in the hospital who is head of insurance utilization. Send them monthly regardless. After that, your utilization will increase. Let me know what happens. This is a win-win for everyone, including your EAP client, especially.

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Helping EAPs Make a Comeback

2011-08-20T10:30:00.004-04:00

The EAP field for about a 20 years has been bombarded with very powerful interests seeking to take what EAPs offer, carve out a piece here or there, and call it their own. Many have borrowed the name EAP and sold it as a service for a secondary purpose like helping contain behavioral health dollars. Few if any other functions are offered in many cases, but the product is still defined as an EAP.

Although EAPs focus on helping troubled employees and our key activity is the assessment and referral process, the gift within the discovery in the core technology is the ability to manage and intervene with many types of human behaviors and risks the emanate from them. The association, which is us, can shepherd EAPs back to their original value proposition by making it NOT okay to calling anything that sort of smells like an EAP, an EAP.

Although internal EAPs frequently possess the political clout to get behavioral risk projects initiated in an organization – external EAPs still hold the future of the profession in their hands because most American businesses are small and require vendor services.

HR Journals like HR and WorkForce Magazine have not been helpful to EAPs. Even when they mention EAPs and you and I are pleased to see the acknowledgement of what EAPs do, look closer, because almost 100% of the time EAPs are misrepresented as employee benefits, counseling, and clinical services within the 800# context.

These messages have been consumed by the HR community and benefits consulting industry, and these folks are the primary purchasers and influential persons responsible for making EAP purchasing decisions. A proper definition must begin to be delivered and it would be helpful if the association or a recognized group of "core technologists" would be charged to "codify" the Core Technology so a recognized program represents the spirit and intent of what EAPs were always supposed to be based upon the complete continuum of capability they offer to business and industry. Do you have a copy of the WorkExcel.com Catalog? You can get one here.

EAP Utilization Tip: Partner with Local Gyms & Exercise Merchants

2011-07-09T14:55:00.000-04:00

Gold’s Gym and other franchises are privately owned. This means you probably have opportunities in your town to negotiate with such gyms to get free passes for your EAP clients. You'll boost worksite wellness, too. This is a very cool draw to improve your EAP utilization, and it works. I've done it.

The Gold’s Gym in our area (Arlington Virginia) agreed to give us one month passes for clients who we felt needed to take better advantage of opportunities to improve their health. Good preventative health means pursuing an exercise program, and what better way to get started than with a one-month free pass to a local gym. Word of mouth that the EAP offers clients free passes to a local gym can increase your EAP utilization. It doesn't take much. Just make this a quiet way in which your EAP helps employees. Don't promote it. Simply let it happen and watch the vote of confidence your EAP will soon get.

Imagine being able to hand a free monthly pass to an employee suffering with depression. You know reactive depression and milder depressive disorders benefit from exercise, so visit the local gym. Meet with the decision maker and claim the high ground on this improving the EAP utilization strategy.

Training and Reaching Supervisors with EAP Essentials

2011-06-15T07:35:00.000-04:00

How do you reach supervisors who are unable to attend supervisor training and other related educational programs offered by the EAP?

Unless your supervisors are communicating regularly with the EAP, they will slowly come to misunderstand it, not trust it, or simply forget to use it as tool to manage difficult behavior and performance problems. The risk to the organization is troubled employees being referred too late or not at all. If one of these employees has serious emotional issues, especially the potential for violence, the organization obviously is at increased risk from an inadequate relationship with the EAP and supervisors. (This is on of the strongest argument for avoiding an EAP "product" wrapped in an insurance plan, largely only a 800# call-in service, that omits an aggressive interface with supervisors.)

So what's the solution for increasing communication and training of supervisors when EAPs can't get "face time" with them? Supervisor training sessions are “iffy” things for companies. Some department managers will work against you, believing they can’t spare the time or give up their supervisors. Frequently, troubled supervisors skip out of training if it is not mandatory. Experienced employee assistance professionals have observed that supervisors with alcohol problems may shy away supervisor training sessions.

Without training in EAP essentials, these managers will remain ignorant about how to use the EAP as a management tool to refer troubled employees. To accomplish this goal, you should subscribe to The FrontLine Supervisor EAP newsletter. The FrontLine Supervisor is the only education tool in the EAP field to educate supervisors continuously about EAP process and supervision skills, while it increases supervisor referrals. A subscription to it increases the rate of supervisor referrals, and the publisher guarantees this outcome.

Supervisors must have ongoing education. One training session won’t cut it. Some HR departments or EAPs may publish their own supervisor education newsletter. Great! It should be distributed on time and it should appear monthly. Quarterly newsletters and the like are simply too infrequent to make an programmatic impact. By default, they tend to be four pages, and therefore too much to read before they are discarded. The FrontLine Supervisor’s question and answer format has proven success rate after 16 years of being irresistible to busy supervisors.

EAP Marketing Tip #2:

2011-05-03T09:33:00.000-04:00

This is marketing tip #2. (By the way, the reason I am offering these tips is because they make you think more deeply about how your EAP can help the business customer. More specifically, they allow you to both educate the customer, debunk myths about EAPs, improve the likelihood that the customer will acquire a more effective model, and deprogram the customer from the brainwashing they have thoroughly received via their trade journals and benefits consultants and financial advisors. Hopefully you and especially new staff witll acquire a new appreciation of value of your own product.

MARKETING TIP/DISCUSSION WITH YOUR CUSTOMER #2:
Discuss and provide information and contrast about the experience of your EAP staff, their turnover rate, workload, and pay?

POINTS: Experienced EA professionals are difficult to find and recruit. Have you kept good ones on your staff for awhile? That's a big plus. This stability is a selling point and a product advantage. Certified Employee Assistance Professionals with master's degrees in mental health disciplines are particularly hard to come by, but represent the best pick of those who should be servicing your company. Add a mental health license and/or alcohol and drug counseling certification, and you got yourself a rare find. A recovering alcoholic and addict with any of the forgoing can be worth their weight in gold if their diseases are well-managed.

Most managed care cubicle workers delivering EAP assessment by phone are not experience EAP pros. Many, even if CEAPs, may have no experience outside the phone cubicle on the 14th floor of an office building sitting on the outskirts of town. Most are poorly paid, overworked, and mimic the guy on the Ed Sullivan show you may have seen who spun plates on the top of 24 sticks dashing from one problem to the next with a few smashing to the ground periodically. That is likely to be your EAP customer if they don't choose an effective EAP provider.

Solid and professional EA staff turnover fast in managed care companies leaving quickly when not adequately paid. Such turnover is deadly and risky to the well-being of employees and family members who tend to not only use an EAP service but "connect" to the staff member's personality because of their need to bond with the helper. This is an important dynamic to explain.

Most private EAP providers and managed care companies are notorious for paying low salaries to their line staff. They need to be adequately paid so the stick around.

So, just when everyone in the host company knows the employee assistance professional by name, they leave for few thousand more dollars in their paycheck! This is a serious consequence of commodization. Everyone suffers especially employees.

The Power of Understanding and Using EAPs As "Programs of Attraction"

2011-04-26T11:42:00.001-04:00

Is the EAP a place where employees should go to complain about things like harassment, ill-treatment by supervisors, or other injustices, even racial, religious, or sexual discrimination?

Or should the human resources department be the only avenue for such complaints?

If the answer is yes, that EAPs can be avenues of such help, should this be promoted as a parallel avenue of assistance?

Then again, if not, and an employee phones the EAP with one of these complaints, should the EAP reject the appointment and tell the employee only HR deals with those matters? Is there risk in rejecting such inquiries? Could a more serious underlying personal problem exist or be in tandem that needs to be discovered?

Answer: Employees should absolutely be encouraged to seek support and help from the EAP for these types of problems along with HR, even though later they may find redress via the HR department.

What is the justification for this opinion? The answer lies purely in reducing risk to the organization and getting more expedient help to employees who may not trust HR, feel their concerns won’t be held in the same confidence, or don't feel comfortable venting and processing with the HR manager (who may not be an trained empathic listener).

But doesn't my position interfere with traditional HR functions? Is this the EAP doing the HR department's job?

The answer is no, of course not. EAPs are programs of attraction. This is a seldom discussed concept in the EAP field but it was frequently discussed in the 70's and 80's.

A program of attraction model wicks risk from the organization. It draws out opportunities to reduce risk--employees who may be violent in the future, angry with management, or likely to file employment claims or lawsuits for the missteps of the organization.

EAPs help these individuals get their needs met in healthier ways. And the cost-benefit is incalculable.

There are opportunities for attracting more at-risk employees to your EAP. EAPs are underutilized however as tools to reduce risk when they are walled off because of turf issues in the organization.

Promote your EAP as a program of attraction. And explain this dynamic in marketing and promotion to prospective business customers. They will quickly grasp the idea of value in your proposal and your philosophy of how EAP programming can do more for them. Any proposal discussion with the prospect will shine with this discussion.

An EAP, like Alcoholics Anonymous, is a program of attraction when properly installed in an organization. This paradigm has been lost as a discussion point over the past 30 years. Reviving it could be a significant way for the EAP field to regain much of it lost perceived value among business customers who farm it out for an 800 #..

Here a product that discuss EAPs in effective ways.

And, here is another.

Confusion about Alcoholism: When Will It End

2011-04-19T11:19:00.001-04:00

Tell me if this makes sense to you:

The risk of an alcohol use disorder, which includes alcoholism and alcohol abuse is higher among those whose parents had an Alcohol Use Disorder. The increased risk is independent of other major predictors, such as gender, parents' social status and the psychiatric hospitalization of parents. The key message for the general public is that there is an increased risk associated with parental alcoholism, but obviously many other factors determine whether an individual develops an AUD.

This is language from a press release I received today. The only difference is that you are only reading the beginning and the end of it to illustrate my point in this post.

Of course this does not make sense, but it is typical double speak I frequently see in research articles about alcoholism where genetics overwhelmingly is evident as the contributing factor, if not the sole factor evident in acquired alcoholism. These end of the story caveats that contradict research and alcoholism science are not uncommon. It leaves a wonderful opening to the continued psychological treatment of alcoholics and allows the mental health community analyzing why alcoholics drink to breathe a collective sigh of relief. Now, here is link to the rest of the full press release so you can see it in full.

http://www.healthfinder.gov/news/newsstory.aspx?docID=651844

You may want to see this alcohol in the workplace education and awareness tool.

EAP Marketing Tips: 1 of 10: Talk about Risk Reduction More Deeply

2011-04-12T09:19:00.001-04:00

I am going to discuss marketing related issues for EAP providers. Many have complained about low balling, managed care, and "commodization". Commodization is not a problem by the way. It is a symptom of the problem. That problem is lack of definition and codification about what EAPs really are, what they should be, and how they ought to be defined by a nationally recognized organization that both promotes and protects the parameters of the EAP program definition so corporate customers and potential purchasers pull away and are less likely to be attracted to inferior, well marketed knock-offs. (Okay that was a little rough, but this is a blog.)

Back on point. The issue in in free markets is usually also about having a better product and the ability to communicate that. I think a piece of the problem lies here. The problem it seems to me is that EA professionals don't really know their own product very well. Let's discuss this over the next couple weeks and see if my notes transcribed to this blog from the jotted scratches on gum wrappers I possess can assist you with additional insights that will make you better prepared to discuss your program and better able to standou in a crowd because you are able to define a better product.

Issue #1 of 10 for Marketing Discussions with Potential Purchasers of EAP Services:
With the increasing risk to employers of being sued by employees, how does the EAP play a role in reducing this risk beyond simply seeing employees referred for personal problems?

Because CT-EAPs (the CT stands for true core technology-driven programs. Since anyone can call themselves an EAP and get away with it handily, I often like to write "CT-EAP".) deal with troubled employees, many of whom have problems with management, they are frequently the first to learn of an employee’s interest or intention to sue the company. For example, my supervisor did such and such, I am angry, I wonder if I can sue. Such statements, if handled properly, make the EAP an early, front line defense against employment claims and related lawsuits. EA professionals help employees seek solutions to personal problems and will steer employees to more constructive alternatives to meet their needs. In many instances this is accomplished by referring them to human resources, providing conflict resolution assistance, or seeking other alternative dispute resolution channels. Although not researched, EAPs certainly save money by helping ward off lawsuits long before they ever are filed. These are precious dollars recovered from loss. It is more crucial than ever for today’s EA professionals to understand federal laws that govern the employment relationship. EA professionals should know these major laws and have a basic understanding of their tenets. Armed with this knowledge, they can better consult with supervisors in the course of managing troubled employees. Every EAP should respond to an additional question, “How do you respond when an employee comes to your office and states that he or she is interested in suing the company?” Communicating to customers that your EAP is a program of attraction like a magnet for troubled employees and those like to agress against the company financially, where they can get their needs met in "healthier ways" is a huge and attractive marketing point ignored by the most experienced EA professionals and related marketers. A business hearing this may respond very quickly with "where do I sign up!"

EAP Consultancy: Advising Supervisors on How to Investigate Something

2011-04-08T07:35:00.000-04:00

Not all supervisors have access to knowledgeable human resource professionals capable giving them instruction on important duties. It all depends on the company's size and its resources and easy access to these resources if they exist. Still, all companies have the same concerns and worries. And meeting the needs of employers should be a key customer service strategy of yours if you are an employee assistance professional. Caveat: If you can justify the activity as falling within the scope of the core technology.

Be creative in your thinking because you may discover new ways of consulting that will prove your value if you think in these dimensions. One of these areas for discussion is giving supervisors basic instruction during consultations with them on investigating employee incidents--serious or not so serious disruptions or violations of company policies or work rules.

Your job is to help protect companies against the impact of troubled employees.

(Digression: Many EA professionals, especially those of yesteryear would argue that this is the most important goal of employee assistance programs. In fact, it is still listed first in the core technology. If you are an "import" to the EAP field and arrived with the idea of only doing mental health counseling in the workplace, you are missing many key aspects of the profession.)

Here's another point to consider arguing: The customer is the person paying your salary. That isn't the employee client. So always thinking about how to meet their needs with your services raises the value of the profession. Am I wrong?

Continuing........One of the resources you may want to consider helping managers with during consultations is providing guidance to them on conducting investigations. Are there commonly used guidelines for investigating incidents in the workplace associated with disturbing employee conduct? Yes. Most supervisors don't know them.

Rule #1--always tell supervisors that you aren't an attorney and that the supervisor should talk to the human resources manager or other adviser to you cover yourself. That being said, investigations follow a logical path to gather information about an event so that a reliable conclusion about what happened can be drawn. So, get this one down pat, and you will provide a valuable service to reduce risk to the employer. You will really get a "Wow!" out of them. You will be a hero. That's what you want. EA professionals are heroes, remember.

Tell the supervisor that he or she must start of thinking of the process like a hopscotch so they don't go off half-cocked. You're going to take it one square at a time. Many organizations have specific procedures to follow concerning things like sexual harassment and other severe events, so again, remind the supervisor to go looking for this information and inquire about how to conduct these types of investigations.

Still, generally speaking however, go ahead and memorize the following spiel: Consider these steps when investigating other conduct-related incidents: First, notify your supervisor about any incident you think needs investigating. Next, interview parties separately, and in private (ask for all details, and ask for the names of any witnesses). Create a written list of your questions so things stay consistent. Third, keep the information you collect confidential from others you interview - persons involved in an investigation are not entitled to the results of your interviews. Fourth, do not form opinions as you investigate - just write down exactly what is said and move quickly in your investigation; and fifth, arrive at a conclusion - do not disclose the nature of administrative or disciplinary actions, if any, to complainants or witnesses. With this information, discuss your findings with a confidentially approved party. That could be an attorney, but do not forget your employee assistance program professional. Lots of confidentiality there. This might be your final stop before a decision or taking the results to the next level of management.

Now you know a little bit more about this subject and can be a true service to managers who ask you in an EAP appointment--"gee, how do I go about this?" You will no longer have to say. "Gee, I am not sure. Maybe there is a book on it somewhere."

Small Business EAPs: Last Frontier for Employee Assistance?

2011-03-14T09:31:00.002-04:00

One of the anomalies characterizing employee assistance services to small business is that, in comparison with large businesses, the small ones may well use those services less frequently. However, the services may nonetheless be immensely more crucial to small business survival. Within this truism is a decades old marketing dilemma for EAPs. Marketing EAPs to small business is not an easy task.

How do you convince a small business of say 40 employees to pay a reasonable fee for a proactive, high-touch EAP when the EAPs success will be likely be unable to demonstrate that disaster X or crisis Y never occurred? It is easier to intuitively convince a company with 5,000 employees that the EAP probably had an impact on X and Y, especially if records of the past can be compared with those going forward. This eap cost-benefit proof is a tougher challenge.

The answer to this problem must lie in a presentation that includes cost-benefits, reduction in financial risks, and removal of stress experienced by the business owner/decision maker all of which are included in a presentation tailored to small businesses. I will begin discussing these factors in this blog and also discuss other "influencers" in the decision-making process toward the goal of motivating the decision maker to invest in effective employee assistance services.

EAPs & Liability Prevention: Someone Please Rebut This...

2011-02-22T10:47:00.000-05:00

If you think I am nuts for talking about this, please say so, or I just might continue. Seriously. I think there is a room here for a breakthrough on EAPs getting more attention from stakeholders in the risk management arena. But listen, if you disagree, please tell me to stop kicking this horse and give me a good reason. I might be too close to my own brain to see the opposite argument. So, here it goes.

Although virtually unheard of in the EAP literature (including recent writings on behavioral risk), EAPs may prove their highest value in EPL intervention and loss prevention far exceeding health insurance cost containment. Indeed the average jury award for wrongful termination is over $500,000. Out of court settlements average $100,000. I believe this is a powerful EAP role and one EAPA can use to claim the high ground in the EPL loss prevention frenzy currently being spearheaded by big P-C underwriters.

Here's what I recommend the profession consider:

1. Establish and fund a committee on Employment Practices Liability and Loss Control to study the EAP role in preventing lawsuits related to employment practices. Survey EA professionals and the like. Survey literature to spot unaddressed opportunities and evidence that potentially new constituencies for EAPs are not aware EAPs as a solution to their loss prevention goals.

2. Contact major underwriters to learn of their knowledge current state of knowledge and the deficiencies in that knowledge associated with EAPs.

3. Create a multi-part strategy to educate these underwriters using their economic self-interest to consider effective, core tech-driven, and high-touch EAPs as solutions to problems they face.
3. Seek to establish a national dialogue with P-C insurers and insurance agencies selling EPL products. A labor-management-insurer sponsored joint benchmarking project to demonstrate interface and impact would be ideal.
4. Promote and encourage conferences, papers, and partnering opportunities along with aggressive press coverage for this linkage and by so doing, penetrate the P-C literature base.

5. Encourage the establishment of CT-EAP products offered by property casualty insurance companies as part of their programmatic approach to EPL risk reduction.

Okay, am I crazy?

OSHA Safety and Health Checklist (and No EAP)

2011-02-02T23:10:00.000-05:00

You would have to be from another planet to not know that EAPs are cost-beneficial and that when fully implemented have a positive impact on helping reduce accident rates and injury related costs. The research has already been done 30 years ago. And EAPs reduce other behavioral losses in the workplace as well. Somehow however the recommendation to have an EAP is still not listed on OSHA's Safety and Health Management Systems Checklist. This list is no small thing. This is the front line handout OSHA distributes nationwide. It covers many recommended steps that companies should take to reduce accidents and injuries. I think "Establish a Employee Assistance Program" should be on this list. I know probably agree. Think about the lives saved, reduced accidents, and reduced injuries associated with helping troubled employees, particularly alcoholic employees, not to mention reduced property damage and lost time results having an EAP in place. How much pull to you have with OSHA? Do you know anyone there? Are you reading this post from your desk at OSHA because you work there? (Hi!) The above PDF was last printed in March 2008! The clock is ticking. QUICK! Before this gets re-written without an EAP mention, let's get OSHA to include EAPs as an important part of a Workplace Safety and Health Management System. Right now, I see this as an overlooked and critical component that needs to be on this list. Do you agree? Phone right now while you are thinking about it. This is the office of communications phone number: 202-693-1999. If enough people phone, they will consider adding EAPs. It's the little things folks that promote this profession. Look for more of these gems--things EA professionals can do to promote their craft. Email me and I will post suggestions on this blog. Health and wellness in the workplace is dramatically enhanced when EAPs are in place.

Alcohol in the Workplace: Tinkering with the Employee's Denial

2011-01-15T14:23:00.001-05:00

As you become an expert on alcohol in the workplace, you will need to become an expert with assessment and helping an employee-client, who may be diagnosable as alcoholic. Invariably you will bump into your employee-client's "model of denial". This is a critical juncture in your assessment interview. All alcoholics have a model of denial. This is a construct that assists the alcoholic in preventing self-diagnosis.

It is a myth that denial is absolute in alcoholics. Denial is a defense mechanism and it is therefore employed to do battle against self-diagnosis. Non-alcoholic drinkers deny alcoholism of course, but they do not use denial in the classic psychodynamic sense of the term. It is logical and realistic to view all alcoholics as having--if not the ability to self-diagnose their illness--at a minimum, a fuzzy idea about the nature of their problems and whether drinking is in some way linked to them or associated with them. This is all that is needed to help alcoholic employees examine their "denial construct".

So where to begin? At an appropriate point in your assessment interview, you should define denial in the following way to make an impact and help the employee move toward self-diagnosis--your goal.

Here is the definition that I finally arrived at using after testing a few other presentations to help employees move past denial. I don't simply rattle this off the tip of my tongue, however. I piece it out in my discussion with the employee until he or she finally gets it all. I like this definition because it seriously erodes or creates useful anxiety in the employee-client, enough at least to further the interview to the next step. That next step might be a MAST (Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test) done verbally, or some other next step in the interview and assessment process.

So alcohol and workplace intervention is enabled by the following presentation by the EA professional:

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Are you familiar with the term denial and how it works with regard to alcoholism? Here's what I have observed in many people over the years. When considering the definition of alcoholism above, many people focus on the symptoms that they do not have more than the ones they do have. Unlike cancer, where any symptom would cause alarm, symptoms of alcoholism often get ignored if other symptoms can be shown to not exist. This process is called “comparing out” of the definition, and it is a natural part of denial.

Here’s a better way to understand denial. Alcoholics usually maintain a definition of alcoholism that serves to exclude them. Alcoholics usually focus on symptoms of addiction that they do not have and use this information to avoid their self-diagnosis. Alcoholics then change their definition over time to exclude symptoms that they begin to experience.

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You can hear this definition discussed in the following video. (FYI: This video is available for purchase in several different formats as a useful tool.) It "stirs the juices" in employees, family members, and of course alcoholic employees in denial. It is also embedded in the WorkExcel.com Reasonable Suspicion Training Course for (DOT and non-DOT) Training of Supervisors.

EAPs Can Help Alcoholic Employees on Disability and Others

2010-12-30T10:04:00.001-05:00

If you work for a company of any appreciable size, there is probably a disability insurance policy in case employees get sick or injured to the extent they can’t work for an extended period of time. Some organizations are progressive with their disability insurance, while some still live in the dark ages.

The most progressive insurance plans cover physical injuries and illness, emotional disabilities, and yes, acute chronic alcoholism. The state of South Carolina, for example, covers alcoholism or any condition caused by alcoholism or alcohol abuse for a maximum of 24 months.

By the way, did you know that prior to the ADA, the federal government recognized acute alcoholism as a disease without restrictions on alcoholism, but after the ADA and its language covering alcoholism, many changes were made that were actually detrimental to the acceptance of alcoholism as a disease?

Go to the American Society of Addiction Medication, ASAM.org, website and read the policy statement and response to the language of the ADA and how adamantly opposed this organization is to the EEOC interpretation of the law, which increased discrimination against alcoholism in its belief.

The ADA did not help alcoholics, they claim. It made discrimination worse in many ways. You will stunned at the insight afforded by this statement.

For example, did you know that the Federal government, Office of Personnel Management issued regulations that "required" use of the EAP for employees suspected of having alcohol problems prior to the institution of any disciplinary action. If the EAP was not used, the disciplinary action would be considered illegal and void. That changed after the ADA.

Sorry for the digression --- Many physically ill patients retire on disability with acute illnesses associated with acute chronic alcoholism. The smartest organizations with disability insurance that cover alcoholism and mental disorders seek to aggressively document that the patient is participating in required treatment to arrest the illness and manage it successfully. You EAP can play this role and possibly save the employer a fortune. You'll have to feel your way into the benefits policies and administration to see if there is a role for you to play in this regard, but it can boost utilization and make your program more valuable.

The EAP can play a key role in helping these employees who get sick or are injured, and qualify for disability insurance. Only an EA professional is proactive enough to assist employees in dealing with the psychosocial aspects of illness or injury effectively. This could conceivably assist these employees in getting back to work or in having meaningful lives. If you make headway in this area, let me know! I will make a post about it and it could encourage other EAPs to do the same and be more valuable.

I was afraid this would happen.

2010-12-16T16:18:00.001-05:00

Depressed employees drive up costs for EAPs. Huh? An official document issued by the American Psychiatric Association states that depression in the workplace takes a financial toll on the work organization. Specifically, "in addition to claims for behavioral health care, costs due to behavioral health problems significantly impact other costs such as productivity, employee assistance programs (EAPs), disability, general medical, and other pharmaceutical claims. While most employers have developed strategies to reduce behavioral health costs, few employers make use of strategies to manage behavioral health treatment quality.

In other words, the EAP is a cost-center and behavioral health problems burden it. This statement is tantamount to saying the fires drive up the costs of fire departments, so we should find a way to put out fires better to save the costs to fire departments.

Let's be more illustrative. If you view an EAP as simply an employee benefit like a gym membership, this statement is completely consistent with how EAPs are more and more being viewed by the business world thanks to a continuing stream of published literature that has redefined them from their original intent. No longer, it appears, are EAPs viewed as management tools to address behavioral risk issues and improve productivity via supervisory and self-referral.

This view of EAPs should change or a different model for the delivery of the Core Technology (which ain't going away) should be created, and then THAT--whatever it is called--should be sold to rescue workers and management and employers from the burden costs associated with troubled employees.

The Report, from the 4th Quarter document "Mental at Work" published by the Partnership for Workplace Mental Health has, in my opinion, a worrisome view in its context of what the benefits industry sees as an EAP. Tell me I am wrong, and I will love you forever.

http://www.workplacementalhealth.org/mhwfourthqtr2010

Value Proposition or Value of Customer Expectations?

2010-12-08T14:43:00.001-05:00

There is a lot of talk these days in marketing circles about clarifying the "value proposition" of what we sell. Simply put, this means selling the message of what we believe the value of our wares to be. We want the customer to listen. And if they 'finally' hear what we are saying, they will wake up and sign on to an EAP.

But wait. 80% at least of America's employers have EAPs the research says. So where is the market we are trying to coax into the value proposition?

EAPs have long sought to sell the "value proposition". But there is another side of the coin. The customer's needs. Managed care won this sale. To be more specific, the other side of the coin is selling to the value of the customer's expectations, and not the value proposition we possess necessarily. Mark Hunter, a marketing guru talks about this in an article entitled "Value of Customers Expectations" that he sent me.

If you are still with me on this post, let me ask, should EAPs be doing this more? If so would this cause us to shift our focus to different customers who are not using EAPs now? I think yes.

And these customers happen to be in the property casualty insurance industry spectrum. These big boys don't know about EAPs. But my belief is that they could use whatever they could possibly squeeze out of an EAP that would help them reduce risk and exposures associated with the things they insure against. This is not health insurance. It's everything else -- from employment practices liability lawsuits, suits for wrongful termination, discrimination, workers comp, property damage, the works. Imagine full-bore EAPs reducing these payouts. Hey, the average wrongful termination lawsuit is $150K out of court. It's over $500K in court and companies lose 70% of the time. Imagine an employee who didn't sue the company because his behavior or that of the supervisor was mitigated by EAP involvement. That's sounds like the beginnings of a new profession to me.

Mark Hunter is a sales pro. He speaks to thousands of sales people per year. Here's what he says, "We've all heard the rule of listening to what the customer has to say, and there's not a salesperson who thinks they don't listen to the customer. Reality, however, is quite the opposite. I find time after time when I'm working with salespeople across any number of industries that the failure to listen is a huge issue."

Hunter adds, "Too many salespeople believe because they know the products they represent much better than the client, they know exactly what the customer will see as real value. Yes, you as the agent are going to have a general indication of what a typical customer wants. However, when it comes to interacting with a specific customer, you can't rely on a "general indication" of value."

Here's the thing. Businesses wanted lower costs on health insurance. Managed care sold them their solution. EAPs, unfortunately, got in the way without the ability to collectively say "halt".

And, EAPs still aren't doing much to collectively and "officially" point out diminished models of quasi-EAP products that insist on the full title to the word "EAP". I don't see this changing in the new EAP Strategic Plan. I may have read it wrong. If so, I will post my correction if someone lets me know.

Unless this becomes a targeted goal--rejecting products that do not adhere to the spirit and intent of the core technology, along with an ongoing survey and confrontation of freelance writers posting misguided articles about EAPs in over 30 HR and Benefits periodicals, I believe problems will continue. That translates to more suppression of life-saving, risk reducing, fully functioning, loss preventing EAPs in the world of work.
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I referenced Mark Hunter above. You learn more about him here: "The Sales Hunter," is a sales expert who speaks to thousands each year on how to increase their sales profitability. For more information, to receive a free weekly email sales tip, or to read his Sales Motivation Blog, visit www.TheSalesHunter.com. You can also follow him on www.Twitter.com (TheSalesHunter), on www.LinkedIn.com (Mark Hunter), and on his Facebook Fan Page, www.facebook.com/TheSalesHunter.

More Thoughts about Workers Compensation and EAPs

2010-11-29T23:01:00.001-05:00

Employee assistance practitioners have a history of offering services in what may be called the "traditional" areas of their craft ... alcohol abuse, drug use, mental health services, and other personal problems associated with these conditions.

And yet, research has demonstrated a close correlation between "traditional" employee assistance services and indicators not normally considered a part of that total picture--workers' compensation claims, for example.

Workers' compensation claims my, in fact, be among the most significant indicators of workplace health and wellness, as well as very good clues as to the presence or absence of alcohol, drugs, or mental health problems.

If you're marketing employee assistance services, seek to discover the types of industries with the highest accident rates. Also, be sure to turn to OSHA. OSHA maintains a fresh list of high accident troubled companies. This is list is available, and you may discover some of the companies are near you. Why? There are 20,000 of them--at least--every year. So, go for the high accident businesses, not the high numbers of employees. You may find more motivated employers who will be interested in your services.

And approaching prospective clients along the workers' compensation chain can bring into your service orbit the self-insured as well as those who pay premiums, since both can realize substantial savings through the coupling of worker's compensation programs with employee assistance services.

The higher a work organization's accident rate, the higher the premiums it pays for workers' compensation. The organization is therefore motivated to reduce accident rates, on of the jobs employee assistance services are designed to do.

Media Event! We Have An Expert on that Subject!

2010-10-24T21:16:00.000-04:00

1. Throughout the year the major media will visit health subjects that have broad appeal to the public. They will also report on major calamities and news stories of many kinds. By and large, however, media outlets choose the stories they will cover based upon their biases and what constitutes public trends of interest.

To illustrate this, imagine how many earth tremors occur in California per year, versus how many are actually reported. Answer: Thousands of tremors occur than are reported. Only certain Rector Scale values will be reported, or where significant damage occurs. The truth is however, that minor tremors knock things off the shelves in people’s houses in quake prone areas of California all the time. But these quakes are never reported. The same quack on the east coast would be huge news.

2. You will notice that specific topics appear in the news periodically, but predictably. For example, you can predict that approximately once a year the topic of alcoholism will emerge. It might be a news event on its cause, a new drug to fight cravings, a story about the genetic brain, or some other related topic. Many other topics related to social problems also will appear in the media. Pay attention.

Listen attentively to the news. When you hear news that relates to your field of expertise, immediately fax to the local television stations your biography (a half page and photo). Fax your photo even though they will not be able to see it. Or have one drawn like you see the photos of people computer drawn in the Investors Business Daily. Also call the news room to say that you are an expert on that subject, you are faxing a bio right now, and you are ready to meet immediately or at their convenience.

You will marvel at how often they will ask you to come to the studio immediately or phone you to visit your office location. This is a great way to get publicity and to get on TV or the radio. And, it will make you instantly visible to your potential clients and EAP customers. Television and news stations scramble to find experts on subjects when the news hits. They don’t have much time and you will be their rescuer. You are doing them a favor, not the other way around. So, act like it on the phone. Act like you have done this all the time and that you "have cleared time from your schedule to make yourself available."

3. If it is national news, you will have extra time to respond because it will take longer for local stations to run "local expert" interviews. National news filters down to local significance to what is relevant in the immediate community. Again, if it is local news, your window of opportunity is much smaller, possibly an hour or less.

DO THIS: Prepare ahead of time by getting phone and fax numbers, and contacts lined up. Then, wait for the "big one." When “it” happens start dialing for dollars and the free publicity.

Note: Everything I discussed above, I have also done numerous times.

Yes, Your Own Blog Can Pay Off! Pay Attention to Marina London

2010-10-08T20:43:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone, yes, it is true. Blogging pays. If you are at the EAPA Conference taking place in Tampa right now, and you are participating in the seminar on blogging, pay attention.

Blogging is awesome and it can really, really help the EAP field---and your EAP.

But let me give you a tip. Select a niche!!! Don't blog about anything and everything. Of course, I am blogging about EAP related issues, but I could just as easily blog about EAPs and Workplace Violence.

Let's discuss this for a moment. Can you guess how many times the phrase "workplace violence" is Googled each month? I will tell you.....looking it up now as I type.......the answer is 49,500 times per month.

Impressive? Yes. But let's say you blogged on Workplace Violence every 7 days. No big deal -- just 100 words on how EAPs can play a positive role in reducing the risk of workplace violence. What would happen?

Here what would happen. Because your blog begins to accumlate highly relevant content, you would slowly but almost assuredly find yourself on page one of Google.

Do you realize the implications of this?

It means traffic---and that means anyone interested in the topic would slowly begin to view you as the expert on this topic and witha link to your website on your blog, discover you and your EAP. Search engines will rank you high because you are consistently talking about this topic. The rest is your message. But with 49,500 searches and you being on page one of Google, do you think you would get a few interested customers? Duh.

The Official Dietary Bible Every EAP Should Own (FREE)

2010-09-03T13:29:00.000-04:00

You probably know more about alcoholism, psychotherapy, and managing job stress than human nutrition, correct? There are many subjects that come up when counseling employees and let's face it, we don't always feel in command of every topic.

There are some topics you need to be competent to handle however. One of them is nutrition.

Well there is no reason that you have to be an EAP professional who is an ignoramus about nutrition any longer. You can now download the official federal government bible on all this stuff! Nutrition, Health, Exercise -- it all in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans

I am talking about having a serious grounding in human nutrition that you can offer to your clients and then be sure you are correct and legally safe in offering those dietary recommendations. You can't get that from a book at Borders. (Well you could, but your risk when offering this advice is reduced when you can reference federal government sources, right?)

I am not saying that you should play doctor, by the way.

For example, in your counseling office, could you intelligently comment on things like offering nutritional recommendations for overweight children, being aware of what pregnant women should be concerned about regarding their diet. What the risks there are in weight reduction for new mothers that jeopardize the weight gain of a nursing infant. Knowing that it requires 60-90 minutes of moderate exercise PER DAY to sustain weigh loss?

There are ton of issues regarding diet that arise in the EAP office, and you are a more valuable contributor to workplace wellness and employee productivity if you have a working knowledge or command of this information.

It's easy to get. Download this "bible" of nutrition information from feds. It's usually about $13 at the Government Printing Office, but yours truly found the federal government download (free) at the following link: http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/document/pdf/DGA2005.pdf

Check out this outline:

Background and Purpose of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans
Adequate Nutrients Within Calorie Needs
Weight Management
Physical Activity .
Food Groups To Encourage
Fats
Carbohydrates
Sodium and Potassium
Alcoholic Beverages .
Food Safety
Eating Patterns
Eating Plan at 1,600-, 2,000-, 2,600-, and 3,100-Calorie Levels
USDA Food Guide
Discretionary Calorie Allowance in the USDA Food Guide
Food Sources of Selected Nutrients
Food Sources of Potassium .
Food Sources of Vitamin E
Food Sources of Iron
Dairy Food Sources of Calcium
Food Sources of Calcium .
Food Sources of Vitamin A .
Food Sources of Magnesium
Food Sources of Dietary Fiber
Food Sources of Vitamin C
Glossary of Terms .
Acronyms

Awesome.