This is an ongoing content series on the current EAN website. We have set it up again here so you can continue to use it (if you like.)
Q. I don’t believe I am a bullying supervisor, but several employees recently complained about my supervision style as being such. I think the whole idea of bullying is nearly “fad-like” and an opportunity for employees to escape responsibility for having subpar performance. Am I correct?
A. In the past, the same argument was used to minimize the impact of sexual harassment in the workplace. Today, sexual harassment is illegal. Research has now documented its true cost. Bullying in the workplace is rapidly receiving the same level of recognition, also supported by research. See the citation on abusive supervision at psycnet.apa.org/record/2006-11397-011. Do you ridicule employees? Have you put employees down in front of others? Have you accused them of incompetence, kept them away from “the good assignments,” not given them credit for their work, yelled at them, or invaded their privacy by asking probing personal questions? Many of these behaviors were once considered natural elements of the traditional workplace, but not today. Talk to the EAP about making changes. Most employees who complain to supervisors about bullying say they do not see substantive changes from their tormentors. This implies that changing these behaviors can be tough. Still, you could remain at risk for employment or legal claims if your tactics don’t shift.
Q. I have a new employee with whom I don’t get along. The chemistry or temperament between us isn’t right, and I’m afraid down the road that we are going to have conflicts. Can the EAP help?
A. Your description of “bad chemistry” is one to explore with someone in your EAP. As you might guess, bad chemistry is not a mysterious occurrence. You are describing characteristics of personality differences that influence communication, both verbal and nonverbal. The important aspect of this problem is any resistance to trusting your employee. Trust is crucial to your achievement or to your work unit goals. You may be inclined to micromanage this employee’s work. You may give less positive feedback about their work. You may be more naturally resistant to giving them attention, tending to ignore their contributions. Would you be inclined to avoid inviting this person to important meetings, have less empathy for their request for a raise, or criticize this person more? All of these issues can lead to turnover along with the other problems this sort of schism you are describing naturally creates. The EAP will help you examine the situation and arrive at a personal coping and change strategy that can guide you toward greater understanding and compatibility.
Q. My employee, an extremely bright computer scientist, is facing administrative actions related to a poor decision regarding ethical behavior. How can the EAP help, or can it?
A. The general guidance when it comes to almost any consideration of whether to use the EAP to help an employee is to simply make the referral. The EAP will then make the proper determination about what role it should play in helping your employee. Even if the EAP decides to refer your employee to another resource, follow-up is nearly always important, and therefore the EAP would play a part in this task. Employees with personal problems, especially those who over-use defense mechanisms like denial and rationalization, can be more prone to ethical lapses of judgment (lapses in their common sense). Your employee is smart, but is he or she level-headed and unaffected by personal problems that would make it more difficult to understand and assess a situation requiring a judgment-based decision? The specialized knowledge of being a computer scientist is important, but it is not a prerequisite for sound judgment. The EAP will likely discover the underlying issue and know the next step to take.
Q. Should I refer an employee to the EAP if he or she tests positive for COVID-19?
A. Yes, consider recommending self-referral to the EAP. The coronavirus has tremendous controversy associated with it, and misinformation abounds. Unfortunately, people who are diagnosed with the illness often suffer from anxieties in addition to their other symptoms, including an anxiety about whether the illness will be terminal for them. Victims of the disease may wonder how they got it, who they passed it on to, or whether anyone they know with medical problems or who is aged could contract the disease and die from it. This can obviously create feelings of guilt and concern. What are the long-term side effects? What information should I trust? Does this disease cause heart problems or other body organ damage? The EAP will offer help or obtain the support needed to help your worker overcome these dreads.
Q. Why are EAPs considered a means to help supervisors manage stress? Does this refer to our self-referral to the program to help ourselves or does this refer to the mechanics of EAPs and how they remove the burden of managing difficult or troubling employee behavior?
A. It is both. EAPs help managers with personal stress, and the EAP process helps remove the stress of managing the problematic behaviors of employees that may be linked to their personal problems. There is one part of the process that many managers forget, however. Any performance issue that is not improving is a potential referral to the EAP. This step is a de-stressor because the EAP can share the burden of helping an employee correct a performance problem. When supervisors refer employees to the EAP, they are, in fact, referring them to correct performance issues, not mental health issues or other personal problems. Frequently, it is determined that some personal issue impedes performance (but not always). In those cases, EAPs have been known to then refer employees to every sort of help imaginable, even language classes, pet sitters, retirement planners, public speaking courses, reading improvement programs, and local colleges to finish degrees or acquire courses to improve skills and abilities.
Q. Some states recently decriminalized the psilocybin mushroom, and it appears authorities in these states will practically ignore its use and possession. What is psilocybin? What are some signs and symptoms of its use?
A. Psilocybin is a mushroom hallucinogen similar to other plant-based hallucinogens like mescaline that comes from peyote cactus. There is no approved medical use for this drug, but it has been researched as a possible treatment for depression-associated mental illnesses. Several states and counties in the U.S., and most recently Washington state and Washington, D.C., have decriminalized the use of psilocybin. Nicknames for psilocybin are magic mushrooms, shrooms, little smoke, purple passion, sacred mush, sewage fruit, and zoomers. The substance can be eaten, smoked, or put in a tea. Signs of use, as with other hallucinogens, include the inability to accurately discern time, confusion about reality, panicky behavior, dilated pupils, stomach upset, and loss of muscle control. Regarding the workplace, some users believe that taking small doses of hallucinogens will make them more productive. Of course, there is no empirical evidence of such a result.
Q. Which is more effective as a means of identifying substance abusers: spotting signs and symptoms of addiction or focusing on performance issues like absenteeism and conduct problems that may be caused by substance abuse?
A. When employee assistance programs (EAPs) emerged fifty years ago, a major shift occurred in supervisor training. As the primary means of identifying troubled workers, the field moved away from training managers to look for the signs and symptoms of addiction to instead being observant of performance issues that did not improve, and then referring employees to the EAP based on these performance issues. Some of these workers might also be alcoholics or drug addicts. Since evidence showed addictive disease ultimately would manifest as absenteeism, quality-of-work issues, and behavioral problems, the new approach flourished. Today, supervisors are also taught to spot the signs and symptoms of substance abuse in order to support reasonable suspicion testing, particularly in regulated occupations deemed by the U.S. Department of Transportation as safety sensitive. So, decades later, the two strategies have somewhat merged. However, the dominant model of observation, documentation, confrontation, and referral to the EAP has proven to be the most effective for salvaging the greatest number of workers.
Q. My employee has been late too often over the past several months. I mentioned it to him several times in passing, and then I wrote him up and referred him to the EAP in the memo. What is my next step?
A. Tardiness of employees is a frustrating problem for supervisors. Oddly enough, a common missing piece of the solution is sitting down in private with the employee to discuss the matter and, most importantly, express disappointment. So try this approach. Be sincere. You may be angry and feel like lecturing, but simply express your disappointment. Contrast this disappointment with what you envision for the worker. This can trigger a stronger awareness of responsibility and guilt (which is a good thing). Employees with chronic behavioral issues use defensive mechanisms like denial and rationalization to avoid experiencing any anxiety caused by their improper behavior. Healthy anxiety is the “juice” of change. Your expression of disappointment can overpower this self-reinforcing process and make compliance with the EAP recommendations more certain and success in recovery more likely. If you are trying to avoid disciplinary action, use the foregoing as your next step.
Q. If I phone the EAP to provide information concerning a rumor I heard about an employee who was recently discharged from treatment and may be using again, will the EAP keep my phone call confidential? How will this information be used?
A. A key principle in working with addictive disease employees is to avoid giving enabling and codependent-like responses to their behaviors. In this instance, seeking to verify such a rumor would be chasing something likely to be nearly undiscoverable. The EAP, understanding this dynamic, will avoid engaging in such controlling behaviors, but instead use the information as a backdrop to have a more effective follow-up discussion regarding the individual’s progress in treatment and follow-through with a recovery program. EAPs don’t provide treatment, so follow-up with the treatment provider will be important and allow clinical staff working with the employee to better manage or intervene if necessary. You would be doing the right thing in passing along this information, but your goal should be to help promote the satisfactory performance of an employee.
Q. How do I document a bad attitude? It is too subjective. I would almost need a video of the person’s actions in order to accurately describe it.
A. You’re right. A bad attitude cannot be documented as such. It requires more quantifiable language. The Oxford dictionary defines “attitude” as “a settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person’s behavior.” Behaviors that can be seen, heard, and therefore described constitute the language that reflects attitude problems. But it does not end there. The next piece is linking these behaviors to undesirable or problematic effects. If, for example, your employee is constantly making cynical remarks in team meetings, asking the team how this behavior affects them and learning about its negative impact on their enjoyment of the work environment or ability to be productive — or even how it undermines team members’ confidence — is what’s needed to create effective documentation. Can the EAP help? Yes, this is one of the employee issues that are most commonly referred to it.
