ADDITIONAL CONSULTATION IS AVAILABLE TO YOU
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ADDITIONAL CONSULTATION IS AVAILABLE TO YOU
If you have chosen to follow through with an employee, you may still have some questions about how best to handle the situation. Staff members at the Employee Assistance Program are available to:
- Assess the situation, its seriousness, and potential for referral.
- Help you learn about resources, both on and off-campus so that you can suggest the most appropriate help available when talking with the employee.
- Help you find the best way to make a referral, if appropriate.
- Clarify your own feelings about the employee and consider the ways you can be most effective.
For consultation with the Employee Assistance Professional Staff, call 424-2061, or stop by 201 Dempsey Hall during regular working hours. Let the receptionist know you want a faculty or staff consultation.
A formal referral may occur as part of a structured discipline process to address problematic work performance. The referral is offered by the supervisor, department chair, director or team leader to inform the employee of options available for him or her to remedy substandard work performance. Referral resources, including the Employee Assistance Program, should be named at each step of the discipline process and the process is documented. An employee’s decision to follow-up on the referral is always voluntary. Other appropriate on or off-campus options may be offered. For information on how to proceed with a structured disciplinary process contact the Office of Human Resources, 424-1166. You might want to call EAP and request the handout called: “Supervisory Referral: Addressing Performance Problems.”
What to do:
Because intervening with a troubled employee can be awkward and intimidating, it can seem preferable to do nothing, hoping the problems will just go away. However, in so doing, you may "enable" employees by covering up problems or helping employees avoid the natural consequences of their actions. Sometimes department chairs, supervisors, directors and team leaders avoid asking for assistance because they feel responsible for handling these problems on their own. Yet dealing with a troubled employee on your own can be stressful and at times overwhelming.
A referral to the Employee Assistance Program should not be construed as an alternative to following established supervisory practices or procedures in your department, e.g., evaluation of work performance, imposing disciplinary sanctions, etc. Before making an informal or formal referral to EAP, it is expected that you follow appropriate supervisory practice and communicate clearly and specifically not only that a problem exists, but also what needs to be done to correct the situation.
Your referral to Employee Assistance does not prevent you from taking appropriate corrective action if performance or employment problems persist or if performance falls off again after a period of improvement. A consultation with the Employee Assistance Program is not a substitute for appropriate corrective action nor should it be used as a basis for compromising performance standards or employment practices/work rules. Hence, whenever one of your employees participates in EAP, you should still expect the individual to meet and maintain existing job performance standards and established employment practices/work rules within the framework of existing union/management agreements, statues, and administrative code.
