Building a Resilient Workforce Opportunities for the Department of Homeland Security: Workshop Summary (2012) / Chapter Skim
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6 Leveraging Existing Services and Programs to Support Resilience
6 Leveraging Existing Services and Programs to Support Resilience
Pages 125-140
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From page 125... ...
work organizations in addressing productivity issues and (2) "employee clients" in identifying and resolving personal concerns, including health, marital, family, financial, alcohol, drug, legal, emotional, stress, or other personal issues that may affect job performance (Rothermel, 2008)
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From page 126... ...
Mirabito and her colleagues distilled the information from the study into six pillars of effective workplace wellness programs. She also presented data that illustrated the business case for investing in wellness programs in terms of reduced health care costs and a stronger workforce (Berry et al., 2010)
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From page 127... ...
Mirabito suggested that the workplace wellness movement offers the opportunity to create a new meaning for the concept of a healthy company. Mirabito and her colleagues have found that the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of employees all contribute to a stronger organizational culture, increased productivity, and improved financial performance.
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From page 128... ...
Alignment Through her research, Mirabito found that companies who start wellness programs have to stay engaged in wellness if employee health changes are going to be sustained. Employers are going to continue their investment in workplace wellness only if wellness is aligned with the organization's culture and business priorities.
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Mirabito suggested that vendor partnerships can leverage the very lean budgets and the lean staffs of most wellness initiatives. Communications The sixth pillar is communications.
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Her comments covered three areas of interest: the services EAPs provide for both organizations and employees, how they relate to resilience, and the importance of building program evaluation into the program. Defining Employee Assistance Programs Merrick noted that there are many definitions of EAPs and that for this discussion she will focus on EAPs as defined by the Employee Assistance Professionals Association:
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From page 131... ...
EAPs assist work organizations in addressing productivity issues, and EAPs assist employees in identifying and solving a range of personal and other issues that could affect performance. Merrick emphasized that the two sets of clients are an important feature of EAPs (Employee Assistance Professionals Association, 2011)
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EAPs and Workforce Resilience A resilient workforce must have the tools it needs to cope successfully with stress. Merrick noted that EAP services help employees maximize resilience but also help management support its workforce.
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Merrick quoted the Employee Assistance Research Foundation's commentary on the evidence base: Although some studies suggest EAPs are generally ef fective, the EAP evidence base leaves many questions
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Alt hough there has been an impressive accumulation of program evaluations undertaken by employers (and their employee assistance providers or consultants) , most of these evaluations have been considered proprietary and not widely disseminated or published in scholarly jour nals.
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. A task force appointed by the Employee Assistance Professionals Association recommended at least six possible measures of utilization.
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Wellness Programs Within a Federal Agency Summary panelist Brian Flynn asked how wellness programs could be translated to a government agency. Mirabito suggested that the agency should start with an audit of the current programs to determine to what extent they fit within the six pillars of effective workplace wellness.
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From page 137... ...
Structurally, most companies have found that if all of those functions are reporting to the same boss, it is easier to facilitate hand offs from one organization to another. The Organizational Culture and EAP Services Lisa Teems, the EAP manager at the U.S.
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:104-112, 142. Employee Assistance Professionals Association.
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1985. The core technology of employee assistance programs.
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