It is not unusual for employees to recommend resources to each other for dealing with problems, but the EAP is more often the best choice. So, if you are a supervisor consider speaking up if you are among a group of workers. EAPs don’t do marital counseling or provide other treatment/therapy services, but they do start with an assessment that is free and unbiased. The goal of this assessment is to determine precisely the nature of the problem the employee is experiencing. Imagine the broad spectrum of issues that might exist in any situation where an employee says, "My husband and I are hav ..read more

Helping Employees Coping With the Pain of Traumatic Event Anniversaries Anniversaries of traumatic events can cause anxiety, depression, or sadness for employees. As an EAP staffer, you may be sought out by workers for support during an anniversary of a traumatic event they experienced in the past. These anniversary effects ..read more

If you made New Year's resolutions and are still hanging in there after a couple of weeks, fantastic! Studies show that most of us do make New Year's resolutions, but have trouble working steadily toward these goals. The most popular resolutions are to spend less money, stop smoking, lose weight, exercise, and eat better. If you are slipping a bit, you may have omitted measurable strategies and tactics. If you decide to lose weight, for example, make a part of that goal to consume less sugar. This is a measurable tactic toward your goal. If you want to save more for retirement, choose the amo ..read more

Coping With the Pain of Traumatic Event Anniversaries Anniversaries of traumatic events can cause anxiety, depression, or sadness. You may experience this “anniversary effect” around the date or season when a loved one passed, an assault, an accident, or possibly a local or national tragedy, whether it affected you personally or not. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), reliving this grief is natural, but the healing process can be different for everyone. As an employee, you may find it challenging to work or lack the motivation to complete your assignments. If you experi ..read more

Supervising employees and managing their performance requires observational skills and interaction with workers. Both of these DOT supervisor behaviors produce different types of documentable evidence when needed for supporting reasonable suspicion of substance abuse and the referring of employees to testing. The goal of course is to spotlight successes of workers to reinforce desired behaviors and spot problems with performance issues, but also successfully motivate a subordinate worker to make needed changes. This is about the best summary there is for regular everyday supervision of employe ..read more

You’ll be surprised to discover the not so often considered advantages of DOT compliance training online for drug and alcohol awareness. Let’s dive in. The U.S. Department of Transportation requires substance abuse training for managers and supervisors so they can properly respond to employees in regulated positions who may be under the influence of alcohol or other prohibited psychoactive substances. The DOT does not require employee drug and alcohol awareness, but you should 100% consider doing it. This ability to participate in reasonable suspicion identification and referral saves liv ..read more

When employees come together, everything in that makes them up as people comes with them. One tool to improve workforce cohesion and influence employee behaviors in the direction of what is positive and helpful for the employer is provide a Workplace Sensitivity Training PowerPoint (PPT) on all the topics that you detect as areas of risk for your company. (Not that I am using this phrase "Workplace Sensitivity Training PowerPoint (PPT) with this blog post as a search term, so bear with me.) Use Voice Narration in Sensitivity Training for a Bigger Impact with Your PPT Because you will nev ..read more

You can find more tip sheets on workplace wellness at http://HandoutsPlus.com With the holidays just around the corner, millions of people are turning to Zoom video conferencing to relieve their feelings of stress and isolation. The reason? Zoom calls are a fantastic way to keep in touch with family and friends, especially if you know how to make the most of the service.  To ensure that each call is as organized, memorable, and enjoyable as possible, it's essential to learn about the great features Zoom has to offer. With these ten simple tips, every holiday Zoom call is sure to be a suc ..read more

Stress Isn't Always Bad for You -- Here's Why  Although stress is a normal part of everyday life, we typically think of it as a bad thing. The reality is that some stress  challenges us to improve ourselves because it pushes us beyond what we think we can handle. Without stress, then, we don't grow or adapt to new challenges. Here's why we should welcome some stress into our lives, and some tips on telling the difference between healthy and unhealthy stress levels.  What Is Stress?  Stress is a natural response to change. It's the mental and physical symptoms you experience when you're expose ..read more

Job burnout—chances are you’ve heard these words before. You may have heard friends or co-workers complain of it or it may be something you’re worried about experiencing yourself. But what is burnout? Most people equate job burnout to being overworked, but that is only one factor that can create this miserable condition. The truth is that workplace burnout has many causes which, in combination, serve as agents of destruction, slowly chipping away at an employee’s energy, morale, happiness and creative spirit. Job burnout is not stress, not all generic stress management training can pr ..read more