The Employee Assistance Program is a multidimensional, integrated service for faculty, staff, post docs, medical residents and their families, designed to support the employee throughout his or her work at the UI. EAP staff offer confidential short-term counseling and referral to help resolve a broad range of personal, work, and family problems.
EAP also provides consultation to campus supervisors and leaders. As a leader or supervisor, you are in a unique position to encourage employees to seek assistance for their problems.
Supervisors may opt to consult with EAP when employees’ personal problems might be affecting work performance. It is often difficult for supervisors to address unacceptable performance with employees. It is also often difficult for employees to accept that they may be having performance problems that need attention.
By addressing performance issues while offering the EAP as a source of professional help, supervisors can provide encouragement for employees' overall health and productivity. Campus supervisors and leaders are encouraged to recommend voluntary use of UI EAP to employees who may be having performance problems, as these are frequently associated with personal difficulties.
Problems
When the following situations occur in the workplace, the EAP may help you address the problem:
- Changes in work performance that could be either sudden or develop over a period of time
- Absenteeism or attendance problems
- Deteriorating or inconsistent work performance
- Presenteeism (i.e. being at work but not "on the job")
- Frequent or increased tardiness
- Increased errors, accidents, or missed deadlines
- Difficulties with concentration, confusion
- Change in attitude, mood, appearance
- Change in work relationships
- Frequent complaints either by the employee or about the employee by others
- When an employee shares a personal problem with you
- When you are feeling stressed, frustrated, helpless, disappointed, or anxious when thinking about an employee's work performance problems
EAP also can provide information and assistance in finding the resources you may need to address your concerns with the employee.
- Making a supervisory referral
- Consultations for supervisors
- What to Do When an Employee is Depressed (healthieryou.com)
Additional Supervisor Resources
- Top 9 Tips for Dealing with Problem Behavior in the Workplace
- Supervisory Tools (Dartmouth College)
The Employee Assistance Program offers educational opportunities for University of Iowa departments and workgroups at no cost. Although EAP will work with departments to develop topics that address their specific interests, in general, EAP offers the following talks:
- Suicide Prevention: Question, Persuade Refer
- Why Sleep Matters
- Helping the Troubled Employee
- Resilience
- Emotional Intelligence: Managing Self, Managing Others