May is Mental Health Awareness Month- Time to Reflect on the Well-being of Your Staff

by Kathy Greer on May 12, 2012

Wellness initiatives are on the rise in most workplaces with attention focused on fitness, nutrition, and smoking cessation.  What about mental health?  Traditional wellness programs aren’t designed to address mental wellness.

Addressing the emotional side of wellness is critical since our well-being and resiliency are often major keys to good health.  Think about this:

  1. At least one-third of your workforce will have a major personal problem over the course of each year, one in ten struggle with a substance abuse issue, and 1 in 5 suffer from depression.
  2. Stress and depression are most likely impacting your organization’s health care costs.
  3. Many people with personal issues avoid traditional wellness seminars but may welcome confidential, one-on-one assistance.
  4. Most employees need emotional support when they are trying to get healthier.  Understanding personal barriers and motivations may be a key to success.
  5. Some employees, who are trying to lose weight, get fit, or stop smoking have an underlying mental health, addiction, or work life issue.  Success will be limited until the underlying issue is identified and resolved.  That is unlikely to happen in a traditional wellness program.

So, if brown bag seminars, fitness challenges, and screenings aren’t enough, then what will help?

Your Employee Assistance Program is your greatest mental wellness resource.  Get to know your EAP and encourage people to use it.  A strong EAP can form a solid foundation for any wellness program and will help people get to the root cause of their issues in a personal way.

How’s the mental wellness in your work group?

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Loss of a Legend

by Kathy Greer on May 3, 2012

The recent death of retired NFL Linebacker Junior Seau raises many questions about the built-in hazards of professional football.  The talk in the EAP is, “Could something could have been done to prevent this tragic outcome?”

Professional football is a career and suicide is one of our major concerns in the workplaces in which we serve.  Every year, suicide affects several employees or family members within our client organizations.  There is nothing more difficult for a manager than managing the aftermath of an employee’s suicide.

There are many factors that play a part in suicide prevention, and one central one is a strong support system.  In sports, there is a built in support system that includes coaches, teammates, trainers and fans.   However, once a player leaves, that system abruptly ends. That is one of the reasons professional football players are 3 times more likely to commit suicide than the general population.

In most workplaces, the support system is not so defined, especially when employees are working remotely. A strong EAP may be the best suicide prevention for the workplace.

What can managers do to help prevent suicide in the workplace?

  1. Make sure that you feel confident in your EAP and the response that employees receive when they call
  2. Observe changes in employees with an eye toward depression.  Does the employee sound more down than usual?  Has anything been said to you or others about not wanting to go on?
  3. Call the EAP yourself to talk over the situation.
  4. Talk to the employee about your concerns and recommend the EAP to the employee.

If you are confident in your EAP, it is the best support system and management tool you can have.

Are you worried about someone today?

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Lessons from the Zoo: Do You Have 20 Seconds of Courage?

April 20, 2012

“It only takes 20 seconds of courage” was one of the themes from a movie I saw recently called “We Bought a Zoo.”  It came up because several of the characters in the movie were afraid to take the risk of speaking up when an opportunity presented itself.  Each person held back longer than they [...]

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Is There a Problem Festering in Your Work Group?

March 31, 2012

Sometimes personal problems are at the root of an employee’s declining job performance.  When this happens, the manager must recognize the problem and speak up.  For many managers, it is a difficult conversation, but a critical one for the success of the individual and the work group. The first step is to recognize that there [...]

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How Do You Vote?

March 17, 2012

We are well into the political season and the rhetoric that surrounds us will be here long after the election. Some people consider politics a sport and think nothing of sharing their opinions about the players, the plays and the ranking of the teams. Discussing politics can be a fun and educational experience and provide [...]

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Save a Job, Save a Life

March 9, 2012

On occasion, managers have the opportunity to help save a job or a life by guiding someone to the EAP.  Employees get back on track sooner when managers take early action on performance issues.  This is especially true when there is an interfering personal problem.  Here are 5 tips for intervening in time: 1.  Notice [...]

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Letting Go of Anger

February 25, 2012

Nelson Mandela was in the news today, and it reminded me of a lesson I learned from him.  After he was let out of prison, he told Bill Clinton that he wasn’t going to hold a grudge against his jailors.  People watched in amazement.  He was in there for 27 years!  How could he forgive [...]

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Eight Quick Tips for Improving Employee Engagement

February 12, 2012

How can managers help employees to be enthusiastic and engaged in their work? 1. Start with yourself.  If you’re not enthused about what you are doing, you can’t expect your employees to be enthused. 2. Take an interest in your employees by taking time to chat.  Ask about their weekend, how they are doing, and [...]

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Why Managers Need EAP

February 6, 2012

Wouldn’t it be nice if employees could just lock their personal in the car when they come in to work?  Why Managers Need EAP If there weren’t personal issues or work life struggles, there might not be a need for Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs.)  Unfortunately, this is not realistic.  The EAP is critical to a [...]

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It’s Just Easier to Do it Myself.

January 18, 2012

As a manager, you’ve probably made this statement before.  There’s a time crunch and you feel overwhelmed.  Here are some ideas to help re-frame your thinking: “It will be worth it in the long term.” Think of the time and effort it takes to delegate work as a long-term strategy to improve the workflow of [...]

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