EAP, Wellness and Behavior Risk Management

Nancy A. Petenbrink, PhD., CEAPNancy A. Petenbrink, PhD., CEAPDirector, Director,

Employee Assistance & DevelopmentEmployee Assistance & DevelopmentCalifornia State University, FresnoCalifornia State University, Fresno

SURVEY

□ EAP? Wellness Program? Work/Life?□ An internal person identified with one or

more of the programs?□ Programs provided through insurance?

Through contracts with external providers?□ No EAP, Wellness or W/L Program at all?□ What is an EAP? Wellness Program is?□ Behavioral Risk Management?□ Ever partnered with your EAP on anything?□ If so, what?

□□ WELLNESSWELLNESS – programs geared toward keeping workers healthy, increasing morale, reducing healthcare costs and promoting recruitment and retention. The programs include such things as health screenings (blood pressure, osteoporosis, skin cancer), weight management and nutrition, fitness activities, and smoking cessation. At times, these programs also explore environmental issues that promote or discourage health.

□□ EMPLOYEE (OR FACULTY/STAFF) EMPLOYEE (OR FACULTY/STAFF) ASSISTANCE PROGRAMASSISTANCE PROGRAM – a productivityprogram to assist employees in addressing personal problems affecting their work performance. The effective EA professional uses consultation with supervisors, chairs and managers as a tool to assist them with employee productivity and behavioral issues.

□□ WORK/LIFE BALANCEWORK/LIFE BALANCE – programs that provide assistance to employees in solving issues of balance between family/personal life and work responsibilities. Programs include flexible work practices, concierge services, dependent care information and referral, and benefits such as child care assistance, elder care programs, FMLA and adoption assistance.

□□ BEHAVIORAL RISK MANAGEMENTBEHAVIORAL RISK MANAGEMENT –Assessment of and intervention into the individual, interpersonal and organizational factors that lead to financial and productivity losses to a work organization. The model usually includes five steps: audit, analysis, strategy selection, implementation, and evaluation.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE WELLNESS & HEALTH PROMOTION

□ 1884 – NCR – horseback rides, exercise break, gym (1895), & recreation park (1911)

□ 1927 - Hawthorne Studies – Western Electric Co - + or -; morale improved, when treated well, productivity increased.

□ PepsiCo in ‘50s and NASA in ’60s developed fitness programs

□ Awards exist managed by the Wellness Councils of America (WELCOA), reporting ROI for effective sustainable programs up to $5. for every $1. invested.

WHY ORGANIZATIONS OFFER WELLNESS PROGRAMS

□ Absenteeism□ Accessibility □ Aging workforce □ Competition □ Health insurance premiums□ Image□ Keeping up with the growing national

interest□ Productivity□ Reduce Workers’ Comp costs

“ Most companies have operated on the belief that high performance is exclusively linked with cognitive and intellectual capacity. Data and research have proven that for companies to achieve breakthrough growth and success , they must also focus on all of the elements of human performance – the body, the emotions, the spirit – consider the person as a whole.”

Harvard Business Review: January 2001Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz

WELLNESS PROGRAM PROCESS

1. Identification – identifying health-related problems (workforce needs)

2. Assessments – Assessing employee’s interests (employee needs)

3. Planning – Locating and applying necessary resources to establish a program

4. Implementation – Positioning, promoting and providing a program

5. Evaluation – measuring the impact

RISK MANAGEMENT – WELLNESSSTRATEGIC ALLIANCE

□ Workforce needs□ Trends with potential for risk□ Methods for evaluation of success□ Identification of high-risk groups to target

with wellness marketing efforts□ Some programs may hasten ability to RTW

THE END OF THE ZERO-SUM GAME

□ Most organizations view work and personal life in a zero-sum game, in which a gain in one area means a loss in the other and may view work/life programs as social welfare.

□ Others see where management and employees collaborate to achieve work and personal objectives to everyone’s benefit.

HISTORY OF EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

□ 1930s and 40s□ 1935 - AA □WWII□ Yale School of Alcohol Studies□Occupational Alcoholism Programs

□ 1960s and 70s□NCA – Study company files – job

performance□ “Broadbrush” Programs□All programs are internal

□ 1980s AND 1990s□ First higher education programs funded by NIAAA□ CISD and Violence Involvement□ Drug Testing and SAP□ Disability Management□ Managed Care

□ 2000s □ Need to prove “Value Added”□ “Free” EAP□ Mostly external (two exceptions) – oil & higher

education (Also organizations that place premium on knowing the “culture” of the organization)

EMPLOYEE BEHAVIORAL RISKS

□ Problems associated with excessive work demands or high stress jobs

□ Job-related problems resulting from an imbalance between work life and family life

□ Employee negligence, indifference or premeditation that poses a safety risk

□ Violence perpetrated by or on employees in the work setting

□ Lawsuits filed by disgruntled employees□ Sabotage and theft□ Conflicts due to racial or gender

disharmony□ Problems arising from alcohol & drug abuse□ Malingering by employees on disability

health insurance or workers’ comp□ Behavioral healthcare utilization□ Preventable physical illnesses among

employees and dependents

ORGANIZATIONAL RISKS

□ Poor internal communications□ Lack of management-employee trust and

cooperation□ Lack of a supportive organizational culture□ Lack of supportive programs, services and

benefits□ A sustained high level of organizational stress

□ Lack of controls in hiring and promotion□ Tolerance of confrontive or work avoidance

behaviors□ Dysfunctional work relationships among

managers and employees□ Encouragement of pathological workplace

behaviors□ Dysfunctional work teams□ Inattention to workplace safety.□ Continual crisis management

STRATEGIC ALLIANCES

□ What right does the university have to involve itself in an employee’s personal life?

□ Is a faculty or staff person’s health – physical and mental – the university’s business?

Wellness Management Programs

What would you do if . . .

□ A key financial person’s wages are garnished?

□ A top researcher gets high on cocaine and insults the granting organization?

□ A couple commit a murder/suicide in a conference room, when they find out that their spouses have discovered their affair?

□ You discover that a female VP is pressuring men in the mailroom to “date” her?

□ You are aware of one department where there is total apathy and some outright hostility to the organization?

□ An earthquake destroys half of your university’s buildings and the homes of three fourths of your employees?

□ Have an abnormal amount of “slip and fall” injuries in a department all of a sudden?

□ An Administrative Assistant admits she has been a victim of domestic violence and her husband is threatening her boss (thinking that they have been having an affair)? He has a gun collection and was trained as a SEAL in the Vietnam war.

□ Are advised that HR has a request for an extended leave due to stress from a doctor for an employee, but someone tells you that the employee is in prison?

Wellness Management Programs

What do you think about the need to address those issues?

□ Are those situations risk management issues?

□ EAP and Behavioral Risk Management approaches may assist in the resolution of all the issues

□ By the way, the situations are real – they have all happened, although positions and type of organization have been changed to protect the innocent

□ Will you be equipped to address them?

□ In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: They must be fit for it. They must not do too much of it. And they must have a sense of success in it.

□ John Ruskin (1819 - 1900), Pre-Raphaelitism, 1850

References

□ Yandrick, Rudy, Behavioral Risk Management□ DeFalco, Jennifer, ed., Wellness Program

Management Yearbook, 2nd Edition□ Harvey, Sally and Atkins, Gary, Behavioral Risk

Management□ Chenoweth, David, Worksite Health Promotion□ Oher, James, The Employee Assistance Handbook□ Magruder, Don, The History of Employee Assistance