Learning Center

It’s been about four months since workplaces first started navigating the uncharted waters of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are now entering a new phase of challenges which includes bringing back some employees who have been working remotely. This change will to be difficult for some employees so this is a good opportunity to review what is helpful to say (and ...

Workplaces are entering uncharted waters as they try to figure out how to protect both the health of their employees and their businesses in response to a looming worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Company responses thus far have include halting non-essential business travel, cancelling professional conferences, having more employees work from home, forming task forces, dusting off emergency response plans, ordering increasingly ...

Having medical insurance is no longer a guarantee that you can get the mental health services you require. A recent survey conducted by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation found that more than half of the adults who sought mental health or addiction treatment experienced significant difficulty in getting that care. The obstacles to receiving care were so ...

It’s not a shocker to learn that a blog with a name like stress.health.business. (inaugurated in 2012) has featured more posts about stress than any other topic. However, you may be surprised to see how many different dimensions there are to the stress/productivity/health relationship. So, as we commence our 6th year of the blog, I have anthologized a diverse sampling ...

If, like many employers, you have policies and procedures in place which mandate drug and alcohol testing following a workplace accident you should be aware that the rules governing such testing have changed in a significant way. The goal of the new rules, which became effective August 10, 2016, is to promote “accurate recording of work-related injuries and illnesses by ...

For the past several years we have seen growing awareness in the business community about the high cost of sleep disorders. There is an abundance of research which validates the impact of sleep problems on productivity: An international human resource company has declared that “insufficient sleep” is the number one condition damaging corporate productivity. This finding followed a thorough examination ...

A high-ranking source at OSHA has confirmed that the agency will require all managers and supervisors (from companies with more than 25 employees) to pass a licensing exam by the year 2020 demonstrating management competencies. The senior OSHA official, who wishes to remain anonymous until the agency officially promulgates the new regulations, declared: “Management induced stress is a plague on ...

We spend a high percentage of our waking hours interacting with our work colleagues. Conventional wisdom has it that coworkers don’t have to like each other; they just need to do their jobs. According to some very interesting research coming out of Carnegie-Mellon and M.I.T. (not exactly epicenters of the “touchy-feely” school of business management) conventional wisdom, once again, turns ...

A new research study from Stanford University and the Harvard Business School has named workplace stress as a contributor to at least 120,000 deaths a year and up to $190 billion in health care costs. 120,000 mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers and coworkers who die prematurely, in part, due to work environments that are allowed to remain toxic. ...

We are forgetful creatures. I’m not referring to the “senior moment” variety of forgetfulness. I’m talking about the habitual forgetting that takes place in the midst of everyday life challenges and stresses, when we “forget” to make those choices that we know will keep our bodies, spirits and relationships healthy. We forget that change can only happen today and not ...

Of all the employee personal issues that managers and HR professionals are called upon to address none is more complicated, hidden and stressful than domestic violence. A new Massachusetts law, signed by Governor Deval Patrick on August 8, 2014, has now codified specific employer responsibilities to employees who are victims of domestic violence. Under the new law, employers with at ...

Employers doing business in states which have legalized marijuana should make sure that their employment policies are keeping up with a rapidly evolving, and often contradictory, legal environment. Their employment policies need to reconcile the new state laws, permitting the medical use of marijuana, with the reality that marijuana is still classified as a Schedule I drug by the federal ...

Are you getting enough sleep? The National Sleep Foundation survey reports that 60% of us struggle with our sleep every night. Sleep problems, which are being linked to an ever expanding array of health and psychological problems, were recently described as “the new health frontier.” Employers, who are waking up to the mounting evidence documenting the impact of insufficient sleep ...

        We launched Comprehensive EAP’s blog on June 6, 2012  with an expression of hope for what it would become: ………a place where we can think about the psychology of behavior, health and productivity in the workplace.  What makes us more productive and more fulfilled? What gets in our way and impairs health, safety and productivity? What ...

“Anger impedes our ability to be happy, because anger and happiness are incompatible” -Unknown Anger is a combustible emotion which leaves a trail of regret in its wake. The inappropriate expression of anger can destroy a marriage or a career. Unexpressed anger, on the other hand, leads to a different, but equally toxic, set of problems. It can fester and ...

The most persuasive evidence for the value of an Employee Assistance program (EAP) depends on who is making the decision. If you are a human resources professional, or you are a front line manager, your value equation probably includes how the EAP helps you get your work done and makes your life less stressful. You assign a tangible value to ...

The next time I present a training program for supervisors about using the EAP to help manage performance, I will be referencing a news story that was reported a couple of weeks ago in the Detroit area media. The story focuses on a letter Carolyn Moceri, the City Treasurer of Warren, Michigan wrote to the Director of Human Resources requesting ...

Of all the complicated personal problems that employees bring to the workplace, none is more difficult for organizations to manage than drug and alcohol issues. Employee drug and alcohol problems pose uniquely troublesome challenges because the risks they pose to safety, health and quality are often obscured by employee deception and denial. Employees who are missing work or making errors ...

Sleep has become one of the hottest topics in medical and corporate circles. In the past 10 years there has been a mounting volume of studies, surveys and discoveries validating the fundamental importance of sleep. The National Institute of Health states it plainly: “sleep plays a vital role in your health and wellbeing throughout your life.” Insufficient sleep has been ...

Organizations face daunting challenges when it comes to effectively managing employees whose personal problems begin to interfere with their work performance. Just ask the city of Toronto. The headlines concerning Rob Ford, Toronto’s embattled mayor, have progressed from sensational to almost unprintable in just a matter of days. We have been deluged by a steady media stream of Mr. Ford’s ...

“Just in time” counseling is what we provided to a single mother of a 16 year old son recently. She called us at 1:30 am besieged by worry about her son who had neither called nor made it home for his midnight curfew. Believe me when I tell you that this mother was not seeking an appointment to see one ...

A recent analysis from an international human resource company revealed that of the top 15 drivers of poor employee productivity the number one culprit is insufficient sleep. The remaining top 14 drivers of lost productivity were: depression; fatigue; back/neck pain; anxiety; hypertension; other emotional disorders; arthritis; obesity; chronic pain; headache; irritable bowel; high cholesterol; heart disease; and allergies.  Amazingly, eight ...

EAPs help employees and organizations with a wide range of personal problems that affect work performance. None may be more important than the misuse of alcohol and other drugs because of the additional safety and health risks associated with substance abuse issues. The misuse of alcohol and drugs becomes an immediate occupational health and safety concern when an employee’s coordination, ...

A group of employees witnessed a fellow worker fall to his death. He slipped and fell while working on a catwalk high above the production floor. The HR manager who made the initial call for support to the EAP said that some workers were crying openly while others were leaving the plant to go home. The plant manager, who had ...

“Domestic violence is absolutely a workplace issue. When a victim of domestic violence leaves their abuser, where is the one place the abuser knows the victim will be every day? Work.” Cambridge (MA) Domestic Violence Advocate October is Domestic Violence Month and the occasion presents an opportunity for organizations to review their preparedness to manage these high risk situations. Of ...

1.  EAPs improve early identification and intervention for employees with mental health and substance abuse disorders. 30-40% of your employees will experience mental health and/or substance abuse disorders at some point in their lives. Depression accounts for as much medical and disability cost as hypertension, diabetes, back problems and heart disease. The positive impacts of early intervention for an organization include: savings ...

I am completely amazed that there has not been more debate surrounding the emergence of the so-called “free” EAP that is being offered as a throw in by some carriers as a way to attract business to their more profitable insurance products. Let’s start by calling this “free” EAP by its real name which is “pretend” EAP. “Pretend” EAPs offer ...

For the past 32 years I have had a front row seat at the ongoing drama of elation, disappointment, achievement, loss, bravery and betrayal that occurs every day in the world of business. This has been the sustaining and motivating privilege of working all these years in the EAP profession. Employees and managers and family members have trusted me to ...