Sometimes It’s Personal--but It Still Costs the Company Money
To look at employees bent industriously over their desks, a manager might never know some of them aren’t up to giving their best efforts.
In fact, though, Beth is troubled by the loss of her baby sitter. Karen’s upset by calls from a collection agency. James’ father needs a full-time nurse. Rachel needs help buying a car. Alison worries about her teenage daughter. Bob’s drinking too much.
At any given time, workplace experts estimate, one employee in six has a personal problem that impedes his or her performance.
Employers who fail to help them get expert advice pay a high price in lost output and turnover, says Linda Hall Whitman, president of Ceridian Performance Partners in Minneapolis.
CPP, the former Control Data, contracts with 1,500 employer clients to aid those among their 3 million workers who need help managing work and life problems. Their individual headaches cost businesses dearly, accounting for 72% of all time lost, Whitman said.
At Marriott International, the No. 1 reason employees don’t show up for work is parenting woes, said Donna Klein, the hotel chain’s work-life program director, in Washington. Forty-one percent of the calls to Marriott’s Associate Resource Line--provided by a division of CPP--relate to children of kindergarten age or younger, Klein said.
“Fewer than 7% of American families fit the ‘Leave it to Beaver’ prototype of one wage earner and one stay-at-home caregiver anymore,” Whitman said.
As problems mount, families in which both adults work are less able to cope with them.
*
Speaking of CPP’s role, Whitman said: “These are not nice-to-have services, they are necessary services if companies are to achieve results. Fortunately, there is a growing acceptance of asking for help.”
Last year, CPP’s counselors fielded 300,000 calls from clients’ employees. The number may be so large in part because the callers can remain anonymous.
“A recent study shows two-thirds of employees won’t discuss their problems with the human resources department where they work,” Whitman said.
Often, workers must address personal needs that are important but not emergencies.
“It could be trying to find a summer camp or choosing a college or finding an apartment sitter or a pet sitter,” Whitman said. “You can either take time off from work when your employer would rather have you be productive, or let us do the research for you.”
CPP “will do whatever an employee needs done to keep them working,” she said, including “finding pet and apartment sitters,” legal or financial advice and career guidance.
“When clients need legal information or guidance, our service is much less intimidating than calling a lawyer,” Whitman said.
According to Marriott’s Klein, “In 1996, we reported a 4-to-1 return on our investment” with the Partnership Group, a division of Ceridian. “Those are soft dollars, of course.”
The return, Klein said, is in reduced absenteeism, turnover, tardiness, stress and in improved loyalty and work relationships.
Marriott and the Partnership Group expanded the traditional employee assistance plan into “a full family-support system,” Klein said, “the theory being that the majority of our work-life challenges are not mental health-based but are work-life-based and personal-life-based.”
Clients pay CPP an average of 50 cents per week per employee. In return, CPP offers face-to-face consultations, a 24-hour toll-free line staffed with problem-solving experts, and a vast range of educational materials and audiotapes. Employers’ fees vary based on employee population and use.
CPP last year joined with Employee Assistance Associates of Ann Arbor, Mich., and the Partnership Group of Blue Bell, Pa., to form a group that is the largest in its field, with $1.6 billion in sales.
“A recent Roper Poll found that employees will work harder for a company that helps them with their personal problems,” said Whitman, whose company is banking on that fact.
*
Sherwood Ross is a freelance writer who covers workplace issues for Reuters.
