Office Romances and Productivity: Information for Employees and EA Professionals

​Busier lifestyles have made finding romance more difficult today than in recent memory.

With communication technology often reducing human interaction to abbreviated text messages and shorthand emails, many find the office

Romance in the workplace, think twice before the plunge

to be a rare exception where they are still able to engage in meaningful, face-to-face interaction with others. Romance at work can be a natural consequence. And it can feel quite compelling.

Many companies suffer productivity losses from workplace romance issues, which is why policies against workplace romance sometimes exist. They are not illegal.

The following are the top concerns from a poll of HR practitioners according to research from the IRS Employment Review:

https://www.workexcel.com/blog/hmm-should-i-or-shouldnt-i-romantic-relationship-and-dating-someone-at-work-advice-for-employee-assistance-professionals-offering-guidance/

EAPs Massively Overlooked as Customer Risk Reduction Tools by Property Casualty Insurers and Risk Managers

EAPs Massively Overlooked as Customer Risk Reduction Tools by Property Casualty Insurers and Risk Managers: Risk Managers overlook employee assistance programs as tools to reduce risk for insurance customers and enhance their marketing efforts

Property Casualty Insurance Markets: The One Resource Overlooked in Workforce Risk Reduction

Lew sat quietly in his office at the Chino Mines in the 1950's trying to find a solution to a

massive problem he was hired to fix. Lewis Presnall, D. Div.-- was a pastoral counselor hired by Kennecott Copper Corporation to deal with a massive alcoholism problem among workers and their associated problems placing the company at risk.

These problems included injuries, morale problems, insubordination, harassment, absenteeism, tardiness, property damage, stolen property, firings, conduct and attitude issues, violence in the workplace, and family members coming to work and bringing domestic squabbles with them. Kennecott Copper was at wits' end. Perhaps this Lewis Presnall could figure it all out and solve the problem. He did and his work is what truly led to the creation of broad brush comprehensive EAPs 20 year later. Read more.

Value Added EAP: Burnout Contagion and Employee Assistance Programming

In light of new research, EAPs may want to consider screening for burnout contagion in employee assessments, identify patterns emerging with the workforce, and proactively propose EAP programming to make a impact on the work organization with interventions that reduce risk.

Humankind is, collectively speaking, a social animal. We are aware of one another on certain levels, and if one was to make a map of the world solely based on how relate to one another, you would also be looking at the travels of shared ideas, sickness, love and hate.

We connect with one another through various means and ways, including empathy, emotion, success and defeat. These ribbons of relation changes not just day to day, but sometimes minute to minute.

Among those, though, is something that simply does not get enough credit: burnout.

A new study by Michigan State University education scholars are proving how the culture of an environment (such as the workplace an EAP may find themselves in) can contribute directly to a contagious spread of burnout.

Do consider the information presented here: http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2017/is-teacher-burnout-contagious/

Burnout is a terrible affliction--an insidious slow boil process--that can strike in just about any workplace, especially in a workplace environment that is not keeping the employees health and well-being into consideration. Late nights, unfair workloads, time away from family and home - all of these are indicative of a ticking time bomb!  Eventually the human animal will break down, and pretending that such a thing will never happen to you can only bring harm to the workplace.

Consider, if you will, the fast-paced and emotionally charged setting of a hospital. RN’s bustling about, residents doing 20-48 hour shifts and worse. All it takes is one person to suffer from the various symptoms of burnout before it begins to spread like wildfire, causing mayhem within the personal lives and habits of the entire staff.

“Wherever there is smoke, there is fire,” or so it’s said. There are plenty of symptoms to be on the lookout for, and recognizing overpowering workload per person is one thing to keep in consideration. A culture that does not promote the mental well-being of their employees is one that will eventually suffer in quality of produced work and overwhelming turnover rates, costing a company in both time and money.

The modern day professional, no matter what level of employment they are at, should be aware and mindful of what kind of environment they are empowering within the workplace. Listen to one another, and hear one out. Pay heed to stressors and how they are affecting the workplace and the workers themselves.

Do consider such resources as found here: https://www.workexcel.com/stress-management-training-powerpoint-ppt-presentation-with-stress-management-tips-for-employees-or-ppt-dvd-web-course-video/
The benefits of having such an employee awareness program will easily pay dividends and help counter burnout within your company! Stress management is more than an art form, it’s a daily awareness.

By recognizing stressors and how to properly manage them, paying heed to co-workers, employees, and employers alike one can certainly fight back against such a negative culture, creating a workplace that will positively affect output and production as well as the mental health and well-being of all involved. #burnout #eap

Seven Reasons Business Organizations Should Offer Employee Drug and Alcohol Awareness Education

Seven Reasons Business Organizations Should Offer Employee Drug and Alcohol Awareness Education: Employee drug and alcohol awareness education and training in PDF, Web Video, Web Course, and DVD Player

Yoga and the Treatment of Depression: Put this in the EAP Tool Box

The statistically high rate of revitalization, flexibility, physicality, and an increase in mind-body connection is what describes Yoga. So, heck it should help depression right? Right.

Let’s talk about yoga and how it’s being proven to effectively reduce depression!

You know the types of tropes that get associated with yoga: upscale and overpriced coffee-drinkers, overly heated rooms, manbuns, yoga pants, and Hollywood’s love of showing how it can enhance those pelvic muscles.  The thing to consider, though, is the actual mentality inherently within yoga itself, the kind of oneness and personal exploration within one’s psyche promoted within the practices.

Studies have been produced at the 125th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association which notes how yoga can help with stress reduction, and can impact depression and the symptoms leading to it.

Whether it be bikram, hatha, or some other form of yoga, the increase in quality of life and physical health is noteworthy, and can surely be of use to one’s professional life as well as personal life.  Finding the balance in both is truly key in effective and efficient life management, and can affect the overall output and quality of your work.

EAP professionals guide employees in how to find solutions for personal problems, the kind which may not be easy to simply brush off once they cross that door towards the office. Depression is a common one, and while many resources are recommended, this one has been ignored.

Well, not anymore!  With more studies being produced showing how Yoga (of any known sorts) can help reduce stress and the symptoms of depression, it pays for the EA professional and wellness worker alike to give it a try and see how it can improve the overall health and happiness of the workplace.

It is suggested that you look up your local Yoga studios.  It’s easy to request a sit-in to see if it’s a good feel for you, and no matter the level of expertise of yogi or students, you should always hear that you can assume the easiest pose and simply rest while being mindful.

Mindfulness, stress reduction, and overall quality of progression on an extremely personal level are the hallmarks of a good yoga studio.

Follow these links for more information about "Understanding and Treating Depression: Education for Employees and the news on Yoga and its impact on treating depression.

EAP Posters for Employee Assistance Programs: An EAP Utilization Power Tool

A few EAPs asked about EAP posters, so I am using this blog post to explain the product.

We give you 18 EAP Posters to start, and instructions to edit the templates we provide with them in MS Word or MS Publisher. The gist: You can create your own EAP Posters forever!

The idea is to never buy another EAP poster and use your own great ideas to match the workforce issues and needs you are facing right now.

Here is the guarantee: You will witness management in awe over your targeting of key issues from morale to daycare from opioid addiction to stress management. And management will see how your EAP is better than managed care company which could never match the value you offer. This will reduce risk of your program from being given the boot in favor of an #800.

Now you can look as relevant as you actually are with the visibility you need, which produces awareness, and more importantly the ability for your program to be remembered! Prompt more referrals with EAP posters and achieve better internal buzz about your employee assistance program (EAP). Click here to jump to the product and download a free FREE EAP POSTER. If you want two, just email me.

Imagine creating your own workplace EAP posters or safety posters. Yes, you can use them for safety messages too. Why not?

Make EAP Posters serious, unique, or hilarious. You have ideas, so use them with the help of this kit. (Note, your best ideas will show up when you are taking a hot shower.)

An EAP Poster become invisible after 6-8 views by passers-by. After that, it's done. Gone. This means you must refresh your posters. Don't buy posters...you will lose a fortune. Instead, make your own like these:

The employee assistance program poster kit provides 18 editable posters, and we also send all the free posters we've sent to EAPs over the past five years.Your work culture is unique. It has its own risk issues and concerns. Work climates differ and they change throughout the year. One way to prompt employee action is to use EAP posters to educate, inform, and increase utilization. Along with EAP newsletters, training programs, and other engaging tools, you can keep your EAP relevant as a key player in 

your organization's risk management strategy. 

EAP posters can deliver a laser sharp message on a specific topic or concern. This is what makes this product so powerful. Tackle topics like holiday stress, down-sizing, organizational change, summer accident prevention, going back to school, diversity awareness, alcohol awareness month--are you getting the point about how powerful this product actually is?

Your ideas are the limit. Make new posters appear refreshed all over the organization. We do not know of a more powerful EAP strategy to create top of mind visibility than our poster kit, except for FrontLine Employee newsletter.

You know how hard it is to find new EAP posters. They are often too general. And you can't reproduce anything out there for sale. You must buy the posters one at a time. This is not a good thing. The truth is--your ideas are better than the publisher of such a product, including us!

So, the best way to go is to make your own.

Come up with awesome ideas among your staff and put them into action. Have a contest that creates buzz for your program. In fact, have employees in the organization join in.


The EAP poster kit solves the problem of refreshing your EAP's visibility. It will increase your EAP referrals guaranteed. It will also help you reduce risk and remind everyone of your program's relevance to the organization. Other ideas: conflict resolution, family issues, fixing absenteeism issues, couples conflicts, worry and concerns over job security, improving relationships with the boss....any of these problems could lead to referrals of your riskiest employees.

–Did you know you that you can get free photos with no copyright restrictions from www.pixabay.com or even google if you select "no copyright restrictions" on their images. Call me to learn about this. It is difficult in text, but here is screen shot.

That's how much we paid for this cute dog you see shown in the free download here.

With professional photos and captions you will re-invent posters all the time. It's addicting we have to say, and it's fun to see people's reactions. (Here's a secret. Use animals as metaphors or household objects like tea kettles. You find awesome ideas in picture libraries online.)

You know your workplace best, and you are in the best position to know what employees will look at, read, and pay attention to. You can't buy posters for your specific workplace--you must create them. This is the only poster kit America for EAPs that let's you do exactly that.

After creating an EAP poster, email the PDF to locations of your host company. Get the names of few contacts, and ask these individuals to help you put the poster up in strategic locations you've identified. To make it stiffer, simply put a card stock behind it and you are done!

If you are a consultant, safety services firm, or other provider of safety products, you now have the ability to create workplace safety posters for customers, make a PDF, print it, email it, and then get it up fast.

Here's an example to keep employees from jumping off a loading dock that one company created. Can you see how a really specific safety posters can make a point and reduce risk, save thousands of dollars, and lost work time?

What more can we say about this product?

We give you 18 EAP posters right away. Each one is editable. Simply edit the content on go. Phone me to make this purchase at 1-800-626-4327 to request this kit now. I will give the link to download it and invoice you later -- no problem.

https://www.workexcel.com/editable-forever-employee-assistance-program-eap-posters-kit/