Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are provided by many employers in hopes of alleviating commonly occurring work-life problems of employees.

Although present EAPs address a host of different issues, the roots of job-based programs first took hold in the treatment of alcoholism.1 The focus of this research will be upon the historical formation and pioneers in occupational alcohol treatment, the present state and effectiveness of these job-based programs, and finally, how best to manage and work with the alcoholic. Regardless of numerous attempts to remove drinking from the workplace throughout the first half of the 19th century, workers in practically all occupations drank at their employers expense, and often during specific times set aside for imbibing.2 At this time, alcohol consumption was commonplace and widely accepted. The pitfalls of overindulgence and lost productivity were not yet realized. In many ways frontier life was a quieter and simpler time that was free of the heavily restrictive and regulated working environments on the horizon. The Washingtonians, in some ways a forerunner of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), were probably the first expression of concern for on-the-job drinking. They advocated total abstinence, group meetings, and the sharing of their personal struggles in the form of spoken word. Excessive drinkers were frequently sought by members in their work settings, often by asking employers and co-workers for suggestions about whom to approach with their message. This society flourished briefly in the mid-19th century. Alcohol began to be prohibited from the workplace soon after, in an attempt to discipline and organize a dependable, predictable workforce between the 1880s and 1920s.
1

Emener, William G., William S. Hutchison, Jr. and Michael A. Richard, Employee Assistance Programs, Third Edition, p. 6, 2003. 2 Ibid., p. 7

Three crucial concepts contributed to the removal of alcohol from the workplace. These concepts were Taylorism, the Temperance Movement, and workmans compensation. Taylorism was the epitome of the Temperance Movement. This set of carefully calculated studies of how the job could be most efficiently done, with the least amount of time spent, created an atmosphere in which there was precious little time off for a beer! 3 Under workmans compensation laws, employers were held financially responsible for many of the injuries incurred by employees on the job regardless of who was actually at fault. Office mishaps resulting from intoxicated workers had the potential to impact the bosss bottom line. In sum, the Temperance Movement, Taylorsim, and Workmans Compensation combined to drive alcohol from the workplace. Alcohol and the problems it caused in the workplace were the primary focus of these early efforts. Later on in the establishment of EAPs, other personal problems would garner more attention. However, the origin of job-based programs was undeniably in addressing alcohol problems in the workplace. Three potent forces combined during the early and mid-forties to capitalize on the already present and widespread concern about the effects of alcohol on job efficiency. These forces were the birth and sudden growth of AA, influential and dedicated medical directors support and program initiation, as well as the convergence of these developments with the unique labor market conditions during World War II. During the Second World War, most companies were scouring the streets of the country for any workers that could be found willing to work. Often, less desirable employees were hired in order to meet the enormous production requirements of the time. New problems to industry arose from the employment of workers who would hardly be
3

Ibid., p. 7

hired under normal working conditions. For the return of millions of soldiers from active duty, readjusting to home life was also a problem. Concurrently, in the six years between 1938 and 1944, membership in AA increased exponentially. In the US and Canada, three groups consisting of 100 members during 1938 grew by over one thousand percent to 10,000 members in over 300 groups in 1944. Thanks for this enormous growth could easily be attributed to select medical professionals that understood the scope of the situation and addressed the problem to the best of their ability in their places of employ. New England Telephone Company's medical director, Dr. Daniel Lynch, could be the first, in the 1930's, who conducted a program for alcoholics in industry. The following table represents other pioneers of this movement, and their respective employers: 4 Dr. George Gehrmann Dr. John L. Norris Dr. John Witmer + Dr. S. Charles Franco Dr. W. Harvey Cruickshank Dr. James Roberts Dr. Clyde Greene Dr. Robert Page Dr. Harold Meyer DuPont Eastman Kodak Consolidated Edison Bell Canada New England Electric Pacific Telephone + Telegraph Standard Oil of New Jersey Illinois Bell Telephone

Dr. James Lloyd North American Aviation To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul. It is one of the hardest to define. A human being has roots by virtue of his or her real, active, and natural participation in the life of a community which preserves in living shape certain particular treasures of the past and certain expectations for the future.5 Earlier, the roots of EAPs and their primary focus were discussed. Employees and employers clearly understood the crucial role and purpose these programs served. As the
4 5

Ibid., pp. 8-9 Mannion, Lawrence P., Employee Assistance Programs: What Works and What Doesn't, p. 4, 2004.

goals and assistance offered by job-based programs expanded, their focus shifted away from having a primary objective toward treating everything under the sun in a managed care approach. The treasured success in EAPs of the past has been replaced with uncertain expectations for their future. The crux of the problem for many helping professionals moving into EAP jobs is that their education and training has not prepared them to adequately recognize and assist persons with alcoholism. They have been trained to believe that the effects of drinking are a symptom of broader psychopathology. This view leads the helping professional on a never ending search for the underlying cause of alcoholic drinking that will somehow change the alcoholics drinking...What helping professionals are often missing in their formal education is awareness; that the pathological behavior in the alcoholic is chemically induced by the drug alcohol; that alcoholism needs to be addressed as a primary illness.6 Another issue confronting current EAPs has been confining employee assistance as only or primarily an employee benefit. This denies the degree to which it can enhance supervisory skills, boost productivity, and relegates the program to a marginal role within the company. The employee benefit model will not reach very many of those employees who are experiencing an alcohol problem, except in rare instances, and then only when a crisis of major impart has occurred. The hallmark of these illnesses is denial, and in the absence of a mechanism for early identification and confrontation, these employees will get progressively worse, their work performance will continue to deteriorate, and ultimately, they will be terminated or resign. 7 In many, if not most of these instances, the supervisor
6

Byers, William R., and Quinn, John C. Alcoholism as a Major Focus of EAPs, in The Humas Resources Management Handbook: Principles and Practice of Employee Assistance Programs. Samuel H. Klarreich, James L. Francek, and C. Eugene Moore, Eds. Westport, CT: Praeger, pp. 375-376, 1985.
7

Mannion, ob cit., pp. 82-83

is aware of the employee's declining job performance and is even knowledgeable about the employee's personal problem, but because the EAP is viewed primarily as an employee benefit, the supervisor declines to take action until the problem can no longer be ignored. When the role of management in EAPs is denied or minimized, the work site as the context for such programs becomes irrelevant. Now the entire burden of identifying and confronting inadequate job performance becomes the sole responsibility of the troubled employee, ultimately leading to few alcohol-related referrals. To substantiate, in 2007, the number of persons ages 12 or older needing treatment for an alcohol use problem was 19.3 million (7.8% of the population aged 12 or older). Of these, 1.6 million (0.6% of the total population and 8.1% of the people who needed treatment for an alcohol use problem) received alcohol use treatment at a specialty facility. Thus, there were 17.7 million people who needed treatment but did not receive treatment at a specialty facility for an alcohol use problem. None of these estimates changed significantly between 2006 and 2007 and between 2002 and 2007.8 The adage of prevention being the best cure has been the model of success for an initiative dubbed Communities That Care (CTC). One opportunity to address the problem is to examine the root cause or causes. In the first randomized trial of CTC, middle school students in towns that utilized the prevention system reported less delinquency, initiation of alcohol and tobacco use, and binge drinking than peers in comparison towns. Students in test towns also reported lower rates of current alcohol use in the eighth grade. The CTC program was designed by Dr. J. David Hawkins and Richard F. Catalano of the Social Development Research Group at the University of Washington. We wanted to help communities use prevention science to guide their actions, explains Dr. Hawkins.
8

Shannon, Joyce B., Drug Abuse Sourcebook, Third Edition, p. 467, 2010.

Prevention science tells us that if you want to prevent behaviors such as drug use, you need to address the risk factors for those behaviors in the community and strengthen protection in the community as well. Communities That Care provides stakeholders with tools to assess risk and protective factors in their communities, as well as a menu of tested and effective prevention strategies. Equipped with this information, they can map the profile of risks to which their kids are being exposed and select programs that best address those factors. 9 The results of the grade 8 student interviews revealed that since seventh grade, youths in the CTC communities were 32 percent less likely than those in the control towns to have begun using alcohol. The study shows that a coalition of community stakeholders armed with tools solidly grounded in the advances of prevention science over the past 30 years can prevent kids from starting and continuing risky behaviors, says Dr. Hawkins. Community prevention programs work, says NIDA Director Dr. Nora D. Volkow. We've also seen that they're cost-effective: For every dollar that is spent, you're going to save 5 to 10 dollars in consequence. But more important, you're going to gear the lives of you people to be successful.10 Of course, it is impossible to prevent all instances of alcohol use and abuse. So, what are the best practices to manage or cope with an alcoholic worker? The most effective way to get an alcoholic to deal with the problem is to make the alcoholic aware that his or her job is on the line and that he or she must get help and improve performance and conduct, or face serious consequences, including the possibility of losing his or her job. 11 It is a good service to notify any employee who is being counseled for a performance or conduct problem about the availability of the EAP. It is crucial to make a
9

Reynolds, Sharon, Prevention Program Averts Initiation of Alcohol and Tobacco Use, NIDA Notes, Vol. 23, Number 4, pp. 1, 12, March 2011. 10 Ibid.., p. 13 11 Alcoholism In The Workplace; A Handbook for Supervisors, OWR-30, p. 2, February 2000.

referral to the EAP in the case of an employee with a known alcohol problem. If possible, meet with the EAP counselor to devise a strategy for confronting the employee and encourage him or her to get help. Gather pertinent, relevant, and specific documentation of performance or conduct problems. Set up a time and a private place away from distractions to meet. During discussion, be careful not to offer any opinion that the employee may have a problem with alcohol. Be prepared to accept denial. An intervention may be considered. This is a gathering of a number of people significant in the employees life, led by a trained professional, such as an EAP counselor. The intervention involves having each of the individuals present directly tell the employee how his or her drinking has affected their lives and what the consequences of that employee's drinking have been. During and after treatment, leave status, return to duty, and follow-up care are important for successful recovery of the alcoholic employee. Check with the Human Resources department to determine specific rules and policies regarding approval and denial of leave. Upon return to duty, arrange a back-to-work conference with the supervisor, employee, EAP counselor, staff from the treatment program, other appropriate HR personnel, and if elected, an employee representative. Discuss treatment, conduct and performance expectations, schedule concerns, and any required help back into a regular work routine. Follow-up care should cause only minimal disruption to the work schedule, and may include AA, group meetings, therapy, EAP sessions, or a combination thereof. In case of intoxication at work, restrict performance of safety-sensitive duties. If the employee is willing, send him or her to the health unit for observation and assessment. Contact the EAP. If disruption at the workplace occurs, remove him or her from the

immediate work-site. Physical resistance warrants agency security or local police. Serious liability is involved, so allowing employee to drive home alone is not an option. Utilizing the employee's emergency contact or calling a taxi would be possibilities. Be sure to document the incident immediately and accurately.12 Avoid being an enabler. An enabler is someone who allows the alcoholic to continue the addiction without being held responsible for his or her actions. Supervisors often think they are being kind, when actually they are hurting the alcoholic employee by letting him or her continue to engage in self-destructive behaviors. The best help a supervisor can offer is to learn something about the disease of alcoholism, refer the employee to the EAP, and hold him or her accountable for his or her conduct or performance. The employer has a stake in the early treatment of alcoholism, since the employee will have a greater chance of returning sooner to full functioning on the job if the disease is arrested at an earlier point.13 This is the ultimate purpose of Employee Assistance Programs.

12 13

Ibid., pp. 4-6 Ibid., pp. 7-8

Alcoholism in the Workplace: How Employee Assistance Programs Work for Employers

David Woodworth Human Resources Management: Professor Royals 11-17-11

References

Bibliography 1. Alcoholism In The Workplace; A Handbook for Supervisors, OWR-30, p. 2, February 2000. 2. Byers, William R., and Quinn, John C. Alcoholism as a Major Focus of EAPs, in The Humas Resources Management Handbook: Principles and Practice of Employee Assistance Programs. Samuel H. Klarreich, James L. Francek, and C. Eugene Moore, Eds. Westport, CT: Praeger, pp. 375-376, 1985. 3. Emener, William G., William S. Hutchison, Jr. and Michael A. Richard, Employee Assistance Programs, Third Edition, p. 6, 2003. 4. Mannion, Lawrence P., Employee Assistance Programs: What Works and What Doesn't, p. 4, 2004. 5. Reynolds, Sharon, Prevention Program Averts Initiation of Alcohol and Tobacco Use, NIDA Notes, Vol. 23, Number 4, pp. 1, 12, March 2011. 6. Shannon, Joyce B., Drug Abuse Sourcebook, Third Edition, p. 467, 2010.