Getting personal at work

You can get free and confidential counselling for any issue through many companies, reports ALICE SHOPLAND.

When Mary's eldest daughter was killed in a car crash, she was determined to go straight back to work and prove that she could cope.

But she was mired in grief; her performance slipped. Factory supervisors were concerned that her lack of concentration could lead to an accident.

So Mary was given the option of taking some time off work or seeing a counsellor - for free - through the company's employee assistance programme (EAP). She chose the latter.

EAPs are the name given to programmes which offer staff free and confidential access to professional counsellors. The idea is that work or personal problems can be dealt with before they inhibit productivity.

Most large companies have EAPs; most fund three hours per staffer per year, and employees can continue if they are willing to pay.

The schemes were introduced to New Zealand some 25 years ago by the Alcohol Advisory Committee, as a means of tackling drug and alcohol problems through the workplace.

The scope gradually widened, and now an employee is as likely to see a financial or career adviser through their EAP as a drug counsellor.

General manager Rod Berry and two business partners bought EAP Services from the Government in 1997 and now run it as a private business. It's the biggest of its type and is staffed 24 hours.

The United States Government initiated EAPs after the Second World War, trying to nip in the bud the drug and alcohol problems of returning soldiers via the workplace. Berry says United States EAPs have tended to retain that focus.

"But in New Zealand, we use a very broad range of counsellors who can deal with almost any issue," he says, "because any issue has the potential to impact on the workplace."

Counsellors must have professional indemnity insurance and registration with their professional body.

Over the last 10 years, Berry says, the ratio of personal to work issues has remained fairly constant about about 70:30.

The main personal woes involve relationships, family, finances, grief, and children. At work the big issues are relationships with managers or peers, workload, discipline and work hours.

Most clients have multiple issues, though, Berry says, and 45 per cent are assessed as having "serious problems".

Another change over the years is that larger numbers of men are getting counselling services through their company.

"When I started with EAP Services in 1993, 90 per cent of our clients were women," he says. "Now men make up about 40 per cent. They're becoming more willing to seek help."

Five or six per cent of a company's staff will use an EAP in any one year, says Berry. If the company goes through badly-handled change or restructuring, that figure will often rise to eight or nine per cent.

Managers can recommend, but not insist, employees make use of the programme. EAP Services often mediates between two employees or between a manager and an employee.

Sometimes the EAP can lead to improved procedures within a company. If several people raise the same issue, says Berry, then with the employees' permission they'll raise it with bosses.

EAP Services' smallest client company has less than 10 employees; the largest has more than 8000. It signed up nearly 80 new companies last year, taking its client list to 350.

A sign of stressful times? "It's now recognised that cumulative stress has long-term effects," says Berry. "If you're a courier dealing with city traffic all day every day, or you work in a TAB or a bank where there's the constant threat of robbery, or your job involves inspecting vehicle accident scenes, people can start to find it hard to cope.

"An EAP gives them the opportunity to talk to someone and sort out work and personal stressors."

Carl Billington, communications coordinator for not-for-profit organisation Workplace Solutions, believes that in many cases stress levels haven't increased, but are finally being acknowledged.

"Organisations are recognising that when you employ a person, you don't just employ their skills, you employ the whole person," he says.

Contacts:

EAP Services

(09) 358-2110

Workplace Support

(0800) 496-757