Careful! Don't Serve Up Problems with EAP Concierge Services

Concierge services - non-traditional helping hand services provided by EAPs and other work-life businesses to help employees resolve everyday work-life problems are gaining hold in the EAP field--well, here and there. A recent post on LinkedIn from a EAP in the United Kingdom got me thinking about this topic again.

The fragile rationale for the inclusion of concierge services in EAPs is that if you can't walk your dog and are worried about the carpet at home, this distraction isn't good for your employer's productivity. Hence a leap forward to providing a helping hand to employees that gets the logistics and worry off the employee's mind to free that brain up for more productivity.

I have one reaction to this: What is the "spirit and intent" of the EAP Core Technology?

Skeptics argue that such "concierge" services are the creations of the work-life industry and move away from what EAP services are all about. Others paint a rationale completely consistent with the core technology. 

The reality of course is that competitive pressures to keep EAPs in business (otherwise known as the market economy) are turning some EAPs into do-it-all for you, one-stop resources for employees. Is this practicaal and protectionist or it shooting EAPs in the foot?

Is this an evolutionary step in the EA profession? Or, is it a step away from behavioral risk management, hands-on help for troubled employes, and better penetration into unmanaged risks in the organization associated with human behavior that only REAL EAPs can identify and dislodge? Does it contribute to a loss of focus for the profession, thereby making it ever more vulnerable to being hijacked by managed care?

In many ways, EAPs have always provided some concierge services. I remember a kindergarten teacher phoning to say she was completely frustrated with AMTRAK for billing her $850 twice for taking a bunch of students on a field trip to New York. After four months and getting nowhere fast, she called the EAP. Yes, we took the case. After all, she does not have the time at work to be on the phone all day. About an hour of bird-dogging AMTRAK and the problem was solved. Concierge service? Perhaps, but is this proof that EAPs should dive in head first into this shallow water? If you argue yes, would you post a sign outside the EAP door that advertises "consumer affairs problems solved here?" What about your brochure?

Will these services build your utilization rate? Yes, but at what ultimate cost? I hear the siren's wail on this one? I think it is a shipwreck for the EAP field to venture this direction. I would argue you could make it easier to get farmed out. 

I think there is something called the “spirit and intent” of the EAP Core Technology. It requires an honest assessment of whether activities of your program match it because the profession is fewer in number this year than last--with many EAP closures only since 2012. I don't think concierge activity is what I would call a salvation related activity.

Is Supervisor Training the Key to Reducing Workers' Comp?

I get a lot of news articles coming across my desk. When I read them, I look for small glimmers of light that point to new opportunities for Employee Assistance Programs to do more, be more, get paid more, and be recognized more for what they do. We need all of these things for the EAP profession to thrive. Ohio just claimed that because of supervisor training, they saved $1.2 million dollars in workers' compensation costs over a three year period. The research to substantiate this success was conducted by a third party, so it is credible. I have not discovered all the behind the scenes details yet, but the main thrust was not employee signs, memos, warnings, or education. It is supervisor training that made the difference. But what kind, I don't know yet. I can tell you it was twice a month. Remember that. Here's the questions: What did the training include? Were there communication skills training involved? Was the EAP has a resource encouraged during these sessions. Could an employee assistance program replicate these activities and training with supervisors, and would the training be even more appropriately delivered by EAPs? If you have free time, you may want to explore these questions and this story. Think: "What's in it for EAPs?" When I learn more, I will let you know. Here is the story link: Aren't you curious about these same questions. Can you see that Managed Care would never give a hoot about saving money on Workers' Compensation costs? Check it out: Could EAPs Do This?

Need a Respect Video? Respect Videos for Workplace Training Using PowerPoint

Many human resource managers and employee assistance professionals inquiry about respect in the workplace training. Typically they are searching for a workplace respect video or videos on respect that will help elevate the workplace and address key issues. I want to explain how you can do this yourself on a limited budget. I think you will eat this up. First, do a quick survey of your workforce. What are the issues regarding respect that concern the work culture. Be aware that respect in the workplace can mean anything from restraining impulsive behavior to being mindful of other people's private space. I would suggest no more than 15 questions for a survey that targets one goal: What do people believe the "hot button" issues are. Once you know that, you are home free. Take your survey results and turn it over to a freelance writer who can compose a 1200-1400 word document that addresses "Respect in the Workplace". This will cost about $200. Elance.com is a great website to find a writer. Next, go back to Elance.com and find a PowerPoint person to put this content in a slide show with no more than 25-30 words per PowerPoint slide frame. Put one sentence in one text frame. No more than say, four sentences per slide. Next.........Have the Elance person obtain photos from clipart.com or photos.com - they're free once you pay an annual $159 subscription. Add 2-3 images per frame. Get the PowerPoint pro to animate the text BUT FIRST, send the PowerPoint program to a Voice Professional and have that Voice professional make mp3's for the 25-30 words you've placed on each frame.  So, now you have a Respect in the Workplace PowerPoint that is intense with the information you want, and its professional voice in a respect video will make a solid impact on your work organization. It's now ready to show in "slide show view". You're done. Total cost is about $450 for this project. I did everything I just discussed. You can see the respect videos results here. This program can be turned into a DVD, a Flash Movie for a Web Site, with software that costs about $199 from Wondershare.com. Also, you can create a self-playing, autorun CD that portable, even a Web Course with a software program called Articulate! Go for it!

Who Is the EAP Customer (or Client)---Really?

This is really an interesting question with many opinions in the field. Let's assume for this post that the client definition the "one" who must ultimately be reckoned with? Many, even after 30 year of EAP activity, remain confused. In the past, host organizations were more easily viewed as customers. Then came the morphing of programs into "benefit model" products as managed care dominated the field. This unwittingly gave way to the "EAP client in office" model for clinicians joining the field. Of course, if you are in a top management role in managed care, you are concerned with performance bonuses and percentages of financial reward for containing the use of behavioral health dollars. This is the mission as viewed by managed care stockholders. The "employee-as-client" is seen by many experienced EA professionals as an improper model, and has contributed to the witnessed impotency of the EAP field in many respects compared to its former peak period in the late 70's and 80's. Employees are part of the organization and EAPs serve the organization by addressing issues associated with human capital -- behavioral risks and exposures. Other service/professionals address other concerns of the host organization. For example, CPAs deal with the company's finances, but they do not see the "finances" as the customer. It is the host organization who is the customer. This precise analogy applies to EAPs. By the way, when EA professionals use the "organization as customer" orientation, more risk and exposures are identified and more lives are saved. This is our mission and purpose. With this model, EAPs also gain more influence and more often do not wait for the phone to ring. In turn, there are many more opportunities to assist the organization and more knocks on the EAP office door by employees. The search for "value added" becomes less urgent for these viable programs.

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

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


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Tips for Employees: Being Cool with Disciplinary Actions

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

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.