EAP - The Rest of the Story

Do you remember the Dunkin Donuts man who wakes up and in a zombie like state, shuffles through his apartment chanting the classic line, "Time to make the donuts, time to make the donuts."

Is he that much different than you, or me, when I wake up, hit the snooze, and finally get up, get ready for the day, pack the backpacks, load the guitar, wake up the kid, dress her, kiss the husband good bye, back out of the driveway, turn left on the road and right to day care, drop her off,  and wave the school bus goodbye, turn left at the Texaco, right into the coffee shop . . . "

Or different from what we always do when, as HR professionals, it appears factors outside of work may be negatively influencing an employee's performance.  What do we do? We refer them to the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). We do this a matter of practice, a matter or routine, a matter of necessity. In fact, I do it so often, I do not even think about it. I read a post by the Career Encourager that made me stop and think about employee referrals to EAP.  A seemingly simple, very routine statement we repeat often and, at times without thought, can sound very frustrating to an employee.

Why do we refer employees to EAP and how can EAP benefit them? Check out this post - I guarantee it will give you pause and make you stop and consider your communications around EAP referrals, or at least better prepare you to address an employee's spoken or unspoken concerns.

Time to get my coffee, time to get my coffee. . .

The Devil Is In the Details

Supervisor walks into my office and says, "I don't want to hear about that Wein guy, I just want to know if the union has to be at this meeting I am having today."  What does that tell me? No legal jargon, no references to the Federal Labor Management Statute or the Federal Labor Relations Authority. Just the facts, Jack.

As he is describing what he plans to do, I am listening and seeking to answer a few questions for myself.

• Is it a formal discussion? Does the meeting concern a grievance, personnel policy or practice, or a general condition of employment? What is the length of the meeting, the location of the meeting, is attendance mandatory, will he use a prepared agenda?
• Is it an investigative interview? Does it involve a  bargaining unit employee and a management representative? is it conducted in connection with an investigation? Does the employee reasonably believe that this could result in disciplinary or advers action?

There is a clear distinction in the nature of the discussion at each of these meetings and this distinction is important.  In the case of a formal interview, the right to representation belongs to the union. That means that the union must be notified and has a right to attend, even if the bargaining unit members do not want representation. In the case of an investigative interview, the right to representation belongs to the employee and the employee must request it. The devil is in the details.

In this case it is neither. Turns out the supervisor wants to review new performance standards with an employee. I have some questions for him and he has answers. Yes, the employee is the only person these performance standards apply to. Yes, they were forwarded to the union for their concurrence and yes, the union concurred (remember this scenario is for demonstration purposes only!). He is closing out the current performance year under the current standards and will implement the new ones with the start of the new cycle. He is rating the employee fully successful or above.

If the answers were any different, we would be picking up the phone and inviting the union to a meeting. The devil is in the details and he can be a tricky one.