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

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

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.

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?

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

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!

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

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.