A Strong Start to the New Year: Supporting Managers and Supervisors

Every month in our newsletters to you, and in our quarterly newsletters to managers and supervisors, we provide a list of our Manager and Supervisor "Using Your EAP in Supervision" webinar training sessions with links to register. We do these monthly because we strongly believe that support we can provide to managers and supervisors is just as important as that which we provide to employees and their families.

Why? Managing employees can be stressful, and this is especially so in these economic conditions, when organizations everywhere are doing more with less, whether it's staff, time, budget or other resources. Workplace conflict is on the rise, and other issues that we've reported on—bullying, generational issues, substance abuse and other addiction issues—can create a minefield that can be difficult to navigate without support and coaching. Your EAP can be invaluable in providing this, and more, to help managers and supervisors in their day-to-day jobs.

So, encouraging new managers and supervisors to attend the webinar will help them understand more about this important resource—and it's a great refresher for those who may have attended in the past, but could benefit from the reminder of the many ways VITAL WorkLife can help them.

At the heart of the many things we do to help managers and supervisors is unlimited telephone counseling for them. Regardless of the issue, there is always an experienced counselor available by phone, 24/7, to answer questions, provide guidance and offer support. Whether it's just a one-time call, or coaching over a period of time for particularly difficult situations, we're here to help. If they prefer to meet face to face with a counselor, we can arrange that as part of the face-to-face sessions they are entitled to as part of their EAP benefit.

Then, the Manager Resources section of the member portal provides many more tools for managers. These include:

• Tips on encouraging employees to call the EAP to get the help they need
• Extensive training resources available, such as:
  • PDFs for our Quick Tip Reference Guide for Managers, plus our orientation presentations "EAP 101 for Employees" and "EAP 101 for Managers"
  • A list of our standard training modules, which can be provided onsite or by webinar, and also customized to an organization's particular needs
  • Information on, and the necessary forms for, performance-based referrals to help with employees suspected of alcohol or drug abuse, or who are behaving inappropriately at work
  • For those with our Productivity and Profit plans, a quick guide to the skill builder modules on our work/life website, as well as information on the monthly webinars on work/life topics which can be accessed through that site
• Access to the work/life website, which has extensive resources and information for managers under the "Working" tab, including:
  • Hundreds of articles on a wide range of topics, ranging from dealing with change, to communications, to evaluating employees and providing feedback, to dealing with difficult employees—and much more
  • For Productivity and Profit plan members, there are also audio files, assessments, online seminars, and online learning skill builder modules on over 60 topics

And, as noted above, we send a quarterly newsletter for you to distribute to your managers and supervisors that includes timely articles on managerial issues and how to address them.

Also of note to managers and supervisors are our critical incident stress management services, which help organizations deal with crisis situations, such as the loss of an employee or workplace violence, by supporting individuals and entire organizations in the aftermath—and helping employees get back on their feet. Our work group conflict resolution services are also available to provide facilitation and support for more challenging issues that can't be solved through normal coaching and counseling avenues.

There is almost no limit to how we can help managers and supervisors. To learn more, call us at 800.383.1908 or ask your account manager how we can assist your managerial staff. Click here to learn more about our manager/supervisor consultation resource. 

Pathways to Well Being Call VITAL WorkLife at 800.383.1908 or access resources through your VITAL WorkLife App.