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Hello. My name is John Hyatt. I am the Director of the Employee Assistance Program at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
What are your options as a supervisor when you have an employee who is troubled in some way, and those troubles begin to spill over into the work place? This presentation focuses on the Employee Assistance Program, or EAP, as a management tool. By management tool I am referring to assistance provided to management personnel when employees have personal, family, or health problems that interfere with work in some way.
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What are the objectives for this presentation? To recognize signs of a troubled employee, to understand how and when to refer an employee to the EAP, and to learn how the EAP can help you when the employee is both troubled and troubling to you. I will cover some of the difficulties supervisors face when managing a troubled employee and why outside support and guidance may be helpful. Finally, I will describe how to formally refer an employee to the EAP when there are problems on the job, such as attendance, conflicts with others, or a drop in productivity.
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Before starting this presentation I would like to call your attention to other supervisor briefings on this site, particularly one called Impairment in the Workplace; Supervisor Actions. This module outlines what steps the supervisor should take if an employee is severely impaired or unfit for duty and may not even be able to work safely. The learning objectives for this module are how to recognize impairment, supervisor actions if an employee appears to be impaired, and what the impaired employee must do to return to work and comply with institutional policy on fitness for duty.
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Now back to our topic for this presentation; EAP is a management tool. Most supervisors are aware that this program offers confidential help to employees and immediate family members. Many however, are not familiar with how the EAP program can assist them with supervisory issues. Supervisors and managers regularly contact us when they have a personal or work related stress. We provide individual and strictly confidential guidance for them as we would anyone who uses our services. But that's not what I'm referring to here. I am talking about guidance when dealing with employee performance issues, especially when an employee may be troubled in some way.
I use the term employee throughout this presentation to include faculty members and educational appointees. For more information on the scope of this program, you can review the Employee Assistance policy located in Volume V. The EAP by the way is located in the Department of Employee Health and Well-Being in the Human Resources Division.
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Let me quickly mention common circumstances that lead employees to contact the EAP.
Relationships: marital and family issues are the most common non-work related reason that employees contact us. In most cases these stresses are managed by the employee with minimal, if any, work interference. Most of the time employees with these kinds of issues contact us directly.
Behavioral health: psychological and behavioral problems may interfere with work in some way. For example, studies confirm that depression and alcohol or drug abuse are leading causes for absenteeism. In some cases individuals with these conditions may resist getting help and I will talk about this in a moment. Frequently it is a family member that has a chronic behavioral health problem. The EAP can help the employee develop a realistic approach to dealing with a family situation and obtain needed resources as well.
Situational: any of us may have a situational crisis, such as illness or death in the family, that could interfere with work. Normally these can be managed without major problems.
Work: the major trigger for troubled employees may be work itself. Common triggers for this are an increase in work demands, adapting to change, conflicts with coworkers or supervisors, and isolation and a lack of support on the job. Often employees with these work stresses refer themselves to the EAP but in some cases, as you will see, a formal management referral is needed.
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As I said, most employees or eligible family members call and refer themselves. Employees may also approach their supervisors and ask for help or resources. I encourage you to be familiar with the EAP and refer them to this website or have some of our brochures available to hand out. This is what we call an informal or suggested referral. Another example of a suggested referral is when a supervisor realizes that she is spending too much time counseling an employee about a personal issue. This is a good time to suggest contacting the EAP.
Now a fitness for duty referral, as I mentioned earlier, is really not a referral but a procedure for dealing with a severely impaired employee. It has a completely different set of procedures and expectations from that of a formal supervisor referral. This talk focuses on the formal referral process involving job problems but not severe impairment.
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I have been an EAP manager, counselor, or consultant for the past twenty-two years working primarily in healthcare, but also in the utility and airline industries. It has always been my experience that supervisors are the most distressed when their employees have persistent problems getting along with others at work. Attendance problems are a close second. Why don't these troubling employees get help with their people skills? Let's look at some typical reasons.
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What keeps him from getting help?
Denial: one of the unfortunate traits of certain behavioral health conditions is a strong tendency to deny having the disease in spite of growing evidence to the contrary. Alcohol and drug abusers are just one example of individuals who all too often refuse to get help on their own. What motivates them finally to get help? Sometimes tragically nothing and they die of their disease. The best leverage for getting help is a spouse, partner, or supervisor who appropriately confronts the individual using a tough love approach with clear consequences if they don't follow through. This approach, sometimes referred to as constructive - confrontation, is the concept behind the formal management referral process that I am about to describe. Although dealing with the denial is the greatest concern in the workplace, let me mention a few other reasons why some employees are reluctant to get help.
Fear of being labeled: some employees, especially clinicians, have concerns about seeking mental health services for fear that this will have to be reported to their licensing board. In most cases by the way, this fear is unfounded.
Independent nature: physicians are a good example of employees who resist getting help for stress related conditions. Studies indicate that they are less likely to seek help from EAPs or use mental health resources.
Youthful invulnerability: younger workers may resist getting help because they believe that nothing bad will happen to them. "I can stay up partying all night and still make it to work."
Sometimes employees are genuinely not the problem. There are times of course when the supervisor is the primary problem and that is why the employee refuses to get help. The more likely scenario in a supervisor-supervisee conflict is that both parties play a role in this strained relationship. In these cases the supervisor would benefit from some coaching either by the EAP, the HR generalist, or by additional training, depending on the circumstances.
Whatever the reason for the reluctance to get help, the supervisor is uniquely positioned to use his or her authority to try to motivate the troubled employee to follow through.
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Now let's look at the criteria for making a formal supervisor referral to the EAP. It must be based on work related concerns, either performance, behavior on the job, or attendance. A formal referral must be based on work related concerns. If you call me and say that you are worried about an employee but in fact there are no problems occurring on the job, we cannot use the formal referral approach. You can however, encourage her to call the EAP and if you are quite concerned, call us and we can explore our options. Again, the reasons for the referral must be based on the behavior on the job and not what was observed at a party over the weekend.
Now let me give you a general example of an appropriate and inappropriate formal referral. The employee who has been a poor performer since hire, has consistent complaints about his attitude, has failed repeatedly to respond to your counseling, refuses to accept responsibility for his actions, and denies needing help, is probably not a good candidate for EAP help. In this case I hope your HR Generalist is involved and you are following through with progressive disciplinary steps. Now let's look at another example of an appropriate formal referral. She is having trouble completing her assignments on time, has been isolating from coworkers, has missed more work than 55 usual, and there are several complaints lately that she has been irritable and defensive. She has been a good employee until the last few months. This is a valued employee with a previously good track record who may be in some type of personal crisis during the past few months. She could be a good candidate for a job based formal referral. Again call us for a confidential discussion and we can explore together if the EAP is the right resource for your needs.
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Now let's look at formal supervisor referral procedures. Again you must consult with the EAP before referring and provide details of job problems, meet with the employee to explain the referral, and the employee is expected to comply. The EAP is able to report cooperation and compliance back to the supervisor. Procedurally the most important thing to remember is to call us first. Please do not tell the employee to call us without contacting us first if your intention is to make this a job-based formal referral. If we do not talk with you first the referral will be handled as a self referral and we will not be able to release any information or even acknowledge if the individual contacted the EAP. Once details are provided, suggestions will be made about how to approach the employee and explain the referral process.
A formal referral should not be viewed as a punitive process but rather as an offer for assistance to correct the problems interfering with work. The referred employee is however, expected to comply with recommendations for assistance. She cannot however, be directly disciplined for refusing to cooperate. Discipline must be based on normal criteria for poor performance. Even if the employee refuses to cooperate, we can demonstrate that the institution made an attempt to try to help the individual.
To summarize, call the EAP first to provide details and discuss options. Remember to provide genuine feedback to your employee regarding the problems, use your authority to try to motivate him and spell out the consequences if the job related problems persist. You may also want to consult with your HR generalist, especially if disciplinary action is contemplated. A formal referral to the EAP can be made concurrent with disciplinary action by the way.
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EAP Case Management; Serious Mental Illness: the employee may have a chronic condition and it can be related to absenteeism and job problems. You can consult with the EAP and get help and the employee can get help with treatment compliance and job problems. Mental illness does not excuse poor performance. Now let me emphasize these points. The EAP may be able to help in the event that one of your employees has a chronic mental health condition that is interfering with work. If the employee agrees, the EAP will provide ongoing assistance to help deal with any work-related issues, obtain appropriate medical treatment, and most importantly provide support to continue that treatment. The goal of case management is help to minimize the job impact of the chronic conditions. It is important to point out however, that a mental health condition does not prevent disciplinary action for poor performance. If you have an employee with a chronic mental health condition that is interfering with work, you may want to call us to see if we can help.
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Now let's look at supervisor enabling. Lastly I want to talk about how difficult it is for supervisors to take action when dealing with a troubled employee and then I want to end this presentation by suggesting resources for support. Enabling is a tendency to protect the employee from the consequences of his behavior. We all enable to some extent in our personal lives and at work. It is part of the human condition because the natural tendency is to avoid having to confront an employee, or family member for that matter, about an unpleasant issue. Another reason that we sometimes enable is to protect the individual from potentially painful consequences. Unfortunately it often takes consequences, or the realization that there will be consequences, to motivate us to change. Sometimes it even takes a loss of a job to motivate an employee to make necessary changes.
Let's look at some examples of supervisor enabling at work.
Avoids confronting or talks around the issue: feedback about how we are doing at work is truly a gift and according to studies, a lack of feedback is a major contributor to job problems. Giving your employee feedback about his behavior is particularly challenging but absolutely necessary. For example, it is easier to talk to your employee about why the report is late rather than the more important issue, how angry he was communicating to you about the report.
Waits and hopes - supervisor denial: there have been three complaints in the last six months from coworkers saying that she gets angry and over reacts however; she is on her best behavior with you. You keep telling yourself that surely this is just temporary and probably won't happen again. The supervisor is then in denial. The supervisor accepts the behavior because he is a good performer. Performance of course, includes communication and team work skills. Many times a supervisor will tell me that his employee always does his job well and that's why no action has been taken regarding the complaints about his anger. I bring up this issue of enabling not to instill self-criticism; we all need support to minimize our tendencies to enable, especially when supervising an employee who is both troubled and troubling to you.
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Managing when an employee is troubled and troubling to you is often the most stressful part of your job. Resilience in this case includes support and realizing that you are not alone. It includes HR guidance. It includes EAP guidance; consultation, support, and sometimes a referral. If nothing else from this presentation, remember that you are not alone when dealing with a troubled employee. Feel free to call the EAP just for a confidential chat or to emotionally debrief when you've had a difficult encounter with an employee. Whether you refer the employee or not, your Employee Assistance Program is also a management assistance program and we are here to support you as well. Thank you for taking the time to review this presentation. For further information call the EAP at 713-745-6901.