|
If I
refer an employee who happens to be alcoholic to the EAP for performance
problems, how is it possible for the employee assistance professional to
successfully convince the employee that he or she needs treatment,
especially if family or friends have never been successful? |
Not
every alcoholic
employee
who visits the EAP is motivated to enter treatment, but the EAP setting
has advantages not available to friends or family members. These
increase the likelihood of success. Advantages include the initial
reason for the visit and the desire to resolve management’s concern
about performance or behavior; the practitioner’s counseling skills; the
employee’s lack of knowledge about alcoholism as a disease and its array
of symptoms; and the employee’s willingness to accept the EA
professional’s direction to enter treatment. The last of these is
usually considered the most important because denial prevents acceptance
of the illness, and an authentic desire to remain sober does not emerge
until after treatment begins. |
|
During
the holidays, I had employees to my house for a big get-together. My
thinking is that I will earn more respect and morale will improve when
people get a chance to let their hair down and know me better
personally. Am I right? |
Business management experts
generally hold to the dictum that familiarity breeds contempt. In fact,
there is very little argument to the contrary in management literature.
In support of this convention, research on improving morale and
increasing respect does not focus on socializing with employees or
having casual parties as ways of doing it. You are more likely to earn
less respect because familiarity with your employees allows them the
opportunity to observe your personal faults. Whatever they learn is
included in their estimation of you. Less respect usually follows. You
should be professional, polite, consistent, and communicate well with
your employees in order to earn respect. Consider whether a desire to
socialize with employees reflects personal discomfort with your
supervisory role or authority over employees. If so, consider help from
the EAP and change in your attitude so that your view of supervision
does not undermine it. |
|
How do
I deal with disgruntled employees? I think that some employees like to
complain just to complain. They are “negaholics,” and it is almost as
though being negative is part of their personality. |
Although some
employees may frequently
appear disgruntled, don’t be too quick to dismiss every one as having an
unshakeable personality flaw. Some employees have valid concerns but
have difficulty coming to supervisors and saying so. Although this is a
separate problem, first initiate a discussion and sincerely ask about
the nature of the employee’s concern. Don’t target the disgruntled
behavior, at least not yet. Instead, see it as a symptom of a larger
problem. Don’t be surprised to discover that simply talking with your
employee may resolve the disgruntlement. Validating some employees in
this way causes them to feel respected, and you and the employee can
begin a new relationship based on understanding. A continuation of the
behavior indicates a larger problem, with help from the EAP being a
potentially important way of resolving it. |
|
Our
company has a newly established employee assistance program and
supervisor training is scheduled next week. I have been a supervisor
for 24 years and don’t think that there is much the EAP can teach me
that I don’t already know. Should I still go? |
EAP
supervisor training
has a
focus different from what you have in mind. Training helps supervisors
understand the history and function of EAPs and their unique ability to
help manage troubled employees. Training will explain how EAPs fit into
the normal supervisory process to improve productivity and decrease the
likelihood of dismissal of employees for performance problems. For many
supervisors, this is a new aspect of performance management.
Ironically, the more experience you have, the more important the
training is in order to understand how to apply the new EAP advantages
to supervision. Prior to the EAP, you had your own approach to dealing
with troubled employees or those whose performance problems did not
improve. This approach did not include professional assessment and
referral of an employee to appropriate treatment. A well-constructed
referral to the EAP with good follow-up eliminates the frustration of
managing these problems on your own, and in some cases, years of
enabling. This increases the likelihood of salvaging your employee, and
greatly reduces risk to the organization. |
|
Some of
my employees are better workers than others, so I naturally have a
closer relationship with them on the job. My communication may be more
friendly and jocular. Does this negatively affect other employees, and
if so, isn’t that their problem? |
You
can’t reasonably
be expected to feel the same way about each of your employees. You will
naturally have favorites, and you will at times communicate differently
with them than you do with others. If you do demonstrate a warmer
relationship with some employees, it will be noticed. You do have
choices, however, regarding the degree to which you demonstrate these
behaviors. You should consider their effects and how a visibly
different communication style with certain employees may not serve the
interest of your work unit. Supervisors who have difficulty exercising
control in this regard may be more focused on satisfying their own need
for a personal relationship with subordinates than on what is best for
the work unit. |
