SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Employees working in today's competitive business environment are being required to continually improve the quantity and quality of their work. While this motivation is important for the company's and employees' success, it can also exact a price - the resulting pressure often takes its toll on the physical and mental health of many employees. Add to that any physical and mental duress and problems their family members are going through and you have an employee whose personal, emotional, or job-related problems, if left unresolved, can be a detriment to their productivity. Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are a solution an increasing number of companies are using to address the estimated 20% of all employees who have problems that can reduce job performance by as much as 25%. EAPs are not new. They've been around since the 1930's and began as industrial alcoholism programs. These days, EAPs have expanded to assist in the identification and resolution of a wide variety of personal concerns that can impair employee productivity, such as family and marital problems, mental health, alcohol and drug addiction, eldercare, bereavement, depression, and financial and legal concerns. EAPs are also not insurance, stressed Jack Minter, president, Minter and Associates, a provider of EAPs. "That's the most popular misconception companies I speak to about employee assistance programs have about them," he said. "They usually think it's part of their company's insurance plan and that this type of confidential counseling is included. Many times all an employee needs to mitigate a situation is to have someone they can speak with confidentially about it. Hopefully, an EAP counselor can help prevent an employee's personal problem from escalating to the point where it's even more detrimental to their job performance or worse, become volatile." Unlike longterm individual, family or group counseling an employee might get from an outside psychiatrist or psychologist, EAPs are designed for short term problem resolution. EAP plans usually provide for three to 10 one-hour sessions, said Minter and are very problem-focused. Easy Access There are many ways an employer can encourage an employee to take the initiative and speak with an EAP counselor. State and federal laws prohibits an employer from giving an employee an ultimatum - "Speak to an EAP counselor or you're fired," Minter explained. But an employee can be told if they're work performance doesn't improve, that's grounds for possible termination. But no employer wants to lose a good employee. They've invested a lot of time and money over the years in training the employee and replacing them with someone else can be costly. That's the reason Randolph Brooks FCU began its "Care Employee Assistance Program" in 1997. Thane Cuevas, senior vice president of human resources for the $1.2 billion credit union said he'd read up on material that talked about how difficult it is for employees to leave their personal problems at home and not bring them to the job, and how EAPs can help employees talk out-and hopefully resolve-their problems. "From the employer's point of view, many of them think of employee assistance programs as a way to get employees not to bring their personal problems to work," said Cuevas. "But if an employee has personal problems, they have to deal with it. The EAP is one avenue to help them do that." Employees also have to overcome obstacles to get the most out of EAPs. Even though the EAP counselor is independent of the employer, "there's still a reluctance by some employees to tell them about their problem, because the counselor is associated with the employer," he remarked. "Even though we tell them anything they discuss with the counselor is confidential, some employees don't trust that agreement." In those cases, Cuevas said he tells the credit union employees they have to wait and find out for themselves that the EAP counselor doesn't divulge any information. Cuevas strongly encourages other credit unions to offer their employees EAPs. "Just because an employee has a problem that's affecting their job performance doesn't mean they're not a good employee," said Cuevas. "Everyone has personal problems at some point in their lives. Sometimes just having someone to talk to about it helps a lot." Myra Diaz, vice president of human resources for Security Services FCU in San Antonio agrees that, "We all like to think employees can leave their personal problems at the door to their job, but the reality is whether it's in front of them on their desks or in their minds, employees' personal problems can interfere with their job performance." Security Services FCU has had an EAP from Minter and Associates in place since 1996. With its 800 employees spread out among six branches in Colorado and 18 in Texas, Diaz said the EAP counselors offer the staff someone with a personal touch they can reach out to confidentially. Based on feedback it receives from Minter and Associates, Diaz said as high as 12% of the credit union's employees use the EAP annually, and about 85% of those employees are self-referred; the balance are referred to the program by their managers. "If we can help one employee or a family member a year resolve their problem, then the EAP is worth it," she said. -
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