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Cold Weather, Cold Chills, Cold ComfortWinter and the New Year bring many changes. Many individuals use the occasion of the new year to consider aspects of their lives that they wish or need to change. Organizations change in response to changes in the marketplace or the entry of new competitors. Each stimulus requires an organizational response. If there is not a coordinated response, there may well be frustrated investors, immobilized management and lackadaisical employees. Fauecast argues that all transitions require consideration of and planning for the firm’s human capital. Management needs to listen and respond to employee concerns. Once the employees know they are heard, and even valued, the likelihood of commitment improves, and perhaps a small degree of trust develops. From this effort begins the marshaling of human capital necessary to success.
Holidays fail to solve family problems Besides cold weather, January brings family troubles forward. Quite often, the high hopes for family harmony for the holidays are not met. Hence January is filled with referrals to the EAP. In Fauecast’s experience, this month has more marital and family referrals than any other time of the year. HR managers can facilitate these EAP referrals during January by requiring their EAP providers to promote their family interventions. Posters, meetings with employees, local union shop meetings, are all strategies to reinforce the assistance that EAP can be to families in crisis.
Where Are You on the Mental Health Parity ActEffective January 1, 1998, the Mental Health Parity Act equalizes benefits for physical and mental health. This means having the same monetary limits for both. Because it is harder to gauge quality in behavioral health care services, the Act has caused some concern. Cost: The November 12, 1997 New York Times reports on a Rand study that says "Giving employees mental health coverage on a par with the insurance they receive for physical ailments would involve only minimal costs for employers." However, the National Center for Policy Analysis projects that the cost of mental health parity has the potential to add $350 per year to premium costs. Advice: watch these developments carefully. Quality: The understanding of what quality means differs widely among providers, insurers and clients. These services are rendered largely by personable staff. Is a well-liked therapist the same as an efficacious delivered service? Furthermore, there are different philosophies and protocols for the same diagnosis that complicate the question. In the end, the results are difficult to measure. So what is the value in mental health parity? Consumer satisfaction certainly. Efficacious treatment. This is a personal, or professional decision, worthy in its own right, but exclusive of health care expenditures. There should be a variety of care levels available. Pharmaceuticals should be prescribed when deemed appropriate. Inpatient care should be included under some reasonable criteria. Providers should have the appropriate credentials: psychiatric nurse, psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker. Fauecast supports the aims of the Mental Health Parity Act. If your organization needs help reviewing it, Fauecast will gladly offer consultation and evaluation of behavioral health care networks.
Guest Appearance: Master HumoristAl Schmidt, master humorist, EAP counselor and therapist, amused the International Association of Airline EAPs and challenged them. Using his trademarked "My Life as a Balloon", Al provided the humor and perspective needed to cope with these tumultuous times. "Holding on and letting go" are adaptations he urged on the audience. Change is often described as difficult. These feelings are associated with a disciplined approach, sponsored by a system devoid of humor. Schmidt prefers change that is associated with fun, and the development of a less officious view of self. Schmidt brings "Bits of Wit" to enliven the crowd and admonishes his everyone to find the humor and courage to live well. Behind Schmidt’s humor is psycho-neurology research demonstrating the important health benefits of laughter and the humor that brings it into being. Quoting Josh Billings, Schmidt says, "There’s not much fun in medicine, but there’s a lot of medicine in fun." Al Schmidt, an associate of Fauecast, provides services through the Via Christi Health System and private practice in Wichita, KS
Not All EAPs Are Created EqualDoes this sound like a description of your Employee Assistance Program? "Providing brief outpatient behavioral health treatment for employers and their employees"? (From an actual hospital brochure advertising its EAP) If so, you are not getting your full value. EAPs are more than mental health and substance abuse (behavioral health). The EAP service is more closely linked to consultation to the employees, and to the organization. Similarly, promotion of the program is more than posters, wallet cards and a few "brown bag" lunches. Program promotion means that supervisors know, for example, 1. where to go for help with personnel problems, 2. how to make "management" referrals to the EAP, and 3. what their role in the drug free workplace is. Unionized workplaces involve the local union in EAP referrals and met with the leadership to learn what needs attention. Top management regularly meets with the EAP provider to learn what problems are common among employees, no names are cited of course. EAPA, the professional association that sets standards for the EAP field, publishes EAPA Standards and Professional Guidelines for Employee Assistance Programs. Fauecast will make copies available to organizations requesting it, or you may contact EAPA at 703-522-6272. Fauecast offers a consultation service to help human resource departments review their EAP program. There is a flat fee of $5,000 for organizations up to 100,000 employees. This consultation applies the EAPA guidelines and features special attention to aspects of the EAP that may be out of sync with the client firm’s culture. Call Jeff Faue to discuss this option. Excellent EAP service requires combining many skill sets. There are good providers available. Why would a firm whose own goals include striving for excellence, want less than that from an EAP?
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