On Wednesday morning, April 22nd, the news wires lit up with the story of the death of David Kellerman, the acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac. He was 41 years old and a 16 year employee of Freddie Mac who worked his way up in the organization beginning as an analyst.
It is reported that the death was from an apparent suicide. But why? Whenever things like this happen, everyone is left wondering why. Of course, there is speculation that Mr. Kellerman’s death had something to do with Freddie Mac’s recent disclosure of a $50 billion loss, half of which occurred during Mr. Kellerman’s first quarter as the Acting CFO. This may have either lead to depression or exacerbated an already existent condition. We may never know what actually happened or why but what we do know is that Freddie Mac was aware of the stress he was under and that he had been counseled and encouraged by HR chief Paul George to take some time off and delegate duties in his absence. In fact he had done just that andhe began his time off on Tuesday, April 21st, the day before he was found dead.
This is a horrible tragedy that can and does have a significant effect on organizations and, to Freddie Mac’s credit, they are making use of their Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Once the news became public, the interim CEO John A. Koskinen lead a town hall meeting that same day in which he encouraged his 5000+ employees to make use of the services of the EAP who would be available to counsel and support them through this difficult time. This kind of responsive and open attitude by the leader of this organization will go a long way to helping these employees cope with and move through this tragedy. He did not try to ignore the issue. Rather, he put it right out there on the table giving permission for employees to openly grieve. Thankfully we have come a long way from the “old days” when we tried to ignore these events in hopes that they would go away.
What is also noteworthy, is that Freddie Mac had an EAP in place for support and guidance. This is so important in times like these when an organization needs to act quickly to address the needs of the employee and his family, the needs of the other employees and of the organization as a whole. Although the use of these services will not eliminate these events from happening the education that EAPs provide can lead to early intervention and also help people deal openly with their feelings and reactions to the trauma.
Tags: depression, EAP, HR, Openness, Suicide
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