How to choose an alcohol treatment center for employees

Did you know that over 70% of all illegal drug users are employed? Did you also know that other kinds of substance abuse problems including alcoholism affects nearly 1.5 million of U.S. workers? Employers are feeling the pains of what these kinds of personal problems can do to their businesses. Managers are seeing lower productivity, high employee turnover, low employee morale, mistakes, accidents, and more! Not to mention the increase in insurance premiums which are a direct result of ineffective treatment for employees suffering with alcohol abuse.

So, should you send employees that need alcohol abuse treatment to a center? As a person in management you have recognized that alcohol abuse treatment for employees is a good idea. You know the effects that alcohol abuse can have on employees in the workplace and that alcohol abuse leads to impaired work, poor performance, and absenteeism. You have decided to invest in the well-being of your employees by choosing an alcohol treatment center for employees. But with so many options how are you to choose? Consider the following options available to you as you decide on how to choose an alcohol treatment center that you feel will be the most beneficial.

Employee Assistance Programs:
Employee assistance programs are a great way to provide help, and the most common front line of help, that employers could have for their employees. What good are they? Employee assistance programs can help an employee in many areas of difficulty. In this case an employee assistance program, when properly staffed, can provide private and confidential counseling to the employee seeking help for alcohol abuse. Federal laws and regulations keep privileged medical information between doctor and patient. The employee can rest assured that their names or identities will not be shared with the company or other outside services, which is especially important when the employee fears that by disclosing that they have a problem, they will be putting their job in jeopardy. Unfortunately, in many cases they are right. There are some managers who would rather fire an employee than deal with their problems for them.

Rather than firing an employee with an alcohol abuse problem you may find it more beneficial, to deal with the serious problems brought to your attention by your employees by getting them the help that they need to get their lives on track. As encouraging as it is that more managers are developing a more helpful mentality, not all employees feel comfortable bringing their problems to their managers or even to the Human Resource Department. The Employee Assistance Program is such a brilliant idea as it is a way for the employer to provide a completely confidential means and easy way to access help for their employees.
Make sure that you choose the individuals that you will have staffing your employee assistance program carefully (specifically as it pertains to alcohol abuse treatment). Your Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) should be a licensed Medical Doctor, a licensed or certified psychologist, a social worker, employee assistance professional, or an addiction counselor. This individual should hold the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors Certification Commission (NAADAC), or should have the International Certification Reciprocity Consortium/Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse. It is imperative that your Employee Assistance Counselor for alcohol abuse treatment has not only the knowledge of but the clinical experience in the diagnosis and treatment of drug and alcohol-related disorders. Make sure that you are careful in choosing the individual who will be helping your employees with these serious health and behavioral problems.

If establishing an Employee Assistance program is not something that you think will work for your business situation, there are many different organizations that can help you develop an alcohol treatment center plan that fits your needs. In many cases, simply knowing what nearby alcohol treatment facilities are available is all you need.

Alcohol Treatment Centers:

American Psychological Association
Office of Substance Abuse
Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America
Employee Assistance Professionals Association
National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Leadership Forum
National Partnership for Recovery and Prevention
National Substance Abuse Coalition, Recovery Network
SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce
The U.S. Department of Labor-Working Partners for an Alcohol- and Drug-Free Workplace
The U.S. Small Business Administration.

Rating: 0/5 (0 votes cast)

---

Categories: Employee Performance,

Help others find this article:
Socializer, Digg, del.icio.us, reddit, StumbleUpon

Favorites: Add to favorites
Tags: