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At Associates in Employee Assistance we want to help employers have the healthyest workplace possible. You provide an Employee Assistance Program to your employees because you care about their general welfare. An employee who is physically and emotionally healthy will increase his or her productivity in the work place. By helping your employees reduce and avoid personal problems in their lives, the workplace is benefitted.

Still there are times when personal matters do impact job place performance. Associates in Employee Assistance offers a variety of strategies to assist employers in helping their employees. We offer phone consultations with supervisors who may be struggling with an employee who is not meeting expectations. We also offer trainings on various topics including drug and alcohol awareness, harassment awareness, sexual harassment awareness, and dealing with difficult employees.

The most useful tool available to companies who contract with us is the Mandatory Referral Process. An employee who is not meeting workplace performance expectations may be struggling on the job for a variety of reasons. Often times these reasons are of a personal nature. There may be problems at home, a physical illness, a drug or alcohol problem, or a mental health concern. Employees are sometimes reluctant to discuss these matters with a supervisor, and in some workplaces it may be inappropriate for a supervisor to be involved in these matters. It may even be inappropriate for a supervisor to ask about possible personal problems. Many workplaces emphasize to their supervisors to focus on job performance only, and evaluate an employee as either meeting or not meeting job expectations. Some employers discourage supervisors from getting involved in personal problems.

The Mandatory Referral Process is intended to keep personal problems out of the workplace as much as possible, so that job performance remains the focus. A mandatory referral is apporiate in the following circumstances:

an employee has been consistently not meeting performance expectations for more than three months.
an employee has made threats to the safety of others
an employee engages in patterened absences (Monday and Friday)
an employee has several unexplained absences
an employee frequently seems distracted or unable to accomplish tasks in a reasonable amount of time
an employee seems to be intoxicated on the job or under the influence of drugs or alcohol
an employee has frequent bursts of anger that are excessive and inappropriate in the workplace
an employee is frequently late or asks to leave early on a regular basis
an employee asks others for loans or asks for an advance in pay
an employee is excessively argumentative with supervisors or coworkers
an employee is frequently absent from his/her work station and can't explain his/her whereabouts
an employee complains of personal strife that is causing a decline in job performance

These are some of the reasons an employer may want to consider a mandatory referral. At Associates in Employee Assistance we do not want the employee to see the mandatory referral as a punitive measure. It is our intention to have it be an opportunity for the employee to address whatever personal matter may be causeing the workplace decline, in a confidential and professional setting. We only let employers know if mandated employees are attending EAP sessions, and do not discuss the personal matters the employee may be confronting.