Good Supervisor Follow-Up Begins Before the EAP Referral

Are supervisors referring employees to your EAP without a referral form? Are employees still showing up telling you they were referred by the supervisor, but you have no information in hand making you aware of what the performance issues are. You need to hit the reboot switch on your supervisor training and education so you get more effective supervisor referrals. Here's what to say to your supervisors: Follow up begins before a supervisor referral is made to the EAP. This means the supervisor should pick up the phone and inform the EAP that a referral is pending. A discussion of the performance issues should take place. Then, a referral form should be used. If the supervisor does not have a referral form, then performance issues should be delineated on a piece of paper and two copies made. The employee and the EAP each get a copy. Making the supervisor use a checklist is preferred. It creates more quality and quantity in the performance documentation. The supervisor keeps the original. The EAP must have a list of written performance issues of concern to the supervisor. The assessment of the employee should occur with both the EA professional and the employee having this hard copy of performance issues as discussion points between them. Anything less will create two problems: 1) The employee will control the EAP interview and degree to which information about the performance problems is make known. And, 2) the EAP will be forced to accept the employee's version and opinion as to how serious the performance problems are, what they are, and the degree to which the employee issues are really all the supervisor's fault. The employee will also be less likely to sign a release. At this point, you've likely lost the referral and enabled growing dysfunction. Are you educating your supervisors with skills and knowledge about how to use the EAP in supervision? Consider this product as  an EAP's most valuable weapon for increasing supervisor referrals.