One of the most difficult things that HR managers have to deal with is getting supervisors to discipline their employees and implement corrective action. No supervisors like to have to do this yet it is the most important element in employees’ development and improvement. It is also an important component if it is ever necessary to terminate the employee. In essence, constructive confrontation is a “win-win” for the supervisor and the employee. If the employee is confronted with evidence of those things that are negatively impacting their performance, a plan of corrective action is implemented and there is consistent follow up on progress toward goals, there will be a positive outcome for everyone.
This is where effective use of the EAP is very helpful. Here are the simple steps involved in an effective partnership between HR, supervisors and the EAP:
1. Provide Supervisory Trainings.
This process should begin with the EAP developing a training program in conjunction with the HR department. It should incorporate any disciplinary procedures and a formal, tailored manual should be created. With this buy-in from HR, the EAP can work collaboratively to set up a process for referring to the EAP once a problem is identified. Further, these trainings should have role plays that enable the supervisors to practice the skills learned in the sessions. A very important element is to make sure that the process of making a supervisory referral is simple. If it is too convoluted, it will have less chance of being effective and supervisors will not use it. Eaptools.blogspot does a nice job of addressing the way the process should and should not occur.
2. HR Should Encourage Supervisors to Use the EAP.
Supervisors should contact the EAP before sitting down with employees in any constructive confrontations. This will enable the supervisor to “practice” what s/he will say in the meeting and provide support for the supervisor. It also allows the EAP to be informed and able to anticipate when an employee calls so that they can secure the appropriate “releases of information” to speak with the supervisor about the job performance issues and only the job performance issues. This is an important point in that often job performance problems are related to issues that may be occurring outside of the workplace and there may be a need for the EAP to provide resources, counseling or coaching of a personal nature. In this case, the actual problems being addressed in the EAP are confidential. What is important for the supervisor is whether or not the employee is improving his job performance.
3. Meetings with the EAP and the Employee Should Be In-person.
Because of the seriousness of the issues, these should never be handled telephonically. Doing this in this fashion also communicates to the employee the seriousness of the situation.
4. All Supervisory Referrals Should be Followed Up.
The beauty of the partnership between the EAP counselor and the supervisor is that the employee is being offered resources to improve and being held accountable. It is this accountability that provides leverage for the employee to improve.
5. Using the EAP Should Never Prevent Following Through with the Disciplinary Process.
As was mentioned above, accountability is critical. If the employee knows that his/her job performance is being monitored, then s/he will be more likely to use the EAP counseling or coaching to help improve.
Tags: EAP, Employee Assistance Programs, job performance, managers, supervisors
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