Frontline

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Fall 2011 Becoming Effective Change ManagersLeadership during DownsizingOur Frontline Supervisor Newsletter is another valuable benefit of the Health Advocate EAP+Work/Life program. It is designed to provide timely and valuable information to support your company’s managers and supervisors. As part of our Management Assistance Program, an integral component of our EAP+Work/Life program, we offer managers and supervisors practical strategies for confronting challenging issues such as leadership in the aftermath of downsizing, featured in this edition.

How managers and supervisors handle motivating their remaining workers can have a strong impact on maintaining the viability of the organization.

We encourage you to share the Frontline Supervisor Newsletter within your organization, and to take advantage of the many benefits of our Management Assistance Program. We offer personalized support for managers and supervisors as well as guidance for your employees.

Keeping Employees Motivated after Layoffs

For successful downsizing, managers and supervisors must communicate openly with their surviving employees. This helps them stay motivated and feel supported during this distressing period.

Communication must flow both ways. Listen to your employees’ concerns. This is key when employees are given bigger workloads and feeling overwhelmed. Explain their new roles and your expectations. Let employees know that you appreciate their efforts.

Especially in lean times, these actions create a workplace environment where managers and employees can both succeed.

As the nation’s leading independent healthcare advocacy company, Health Advocate helps employees navigate healthcare and insurance-related issues.

The Management Assistance Program component of our EAP+Work/Life service helps managers and supervisors navigate managerial issues to be more effective leaders.

Enhance Management Skills

Our upcoming newsletters will provide insight in to troublesome issues, including those arising from a changing workplace, such as leading during critical incidents.

Supporting Managers

In this issue:• Performance Reviews

• Managing Troubled Workers

• Early Warning Signs

• Using the Management Assistance Program

Managers who implement layoffs report an increase in health problems. Providing support is important. [University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington, 2006]

EAP+Work/Life

Resources for Managers and Supervisors

HealthAdvocate EAP+Work/Life

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How to Manage PerformanceGiving annual performance reviews is one of the most important—and sometimes dreaded—responsibilities of a supervisor. All too often, employees have had little or no regular feedback and their “surprise” reactions can be quite emotional, even disturbing.

In fact, the performance review should simply be the written summary of the dialogue you have been having with your employee throughout the year. Effective managers evaluate and supervise an employee’s performance every day, making expectations crystal clear. This gives employees the information they need to determine if they are on the right course and to make any adjustments.

Failing to evaluate performance on an ongoing basis can have serious repercussions:

• Employees can’t meet expectations that they don’t understand

• Employees’ skills will stagnate

• Termination is difficult to substantiate if feedback has not been provided regularly

On the other hand, managing performance regularly and effectively benefits your team and your whole company. Individual expectations match the team goals, employees’ strengths and weaknesses are recognized and working relationships are strengthened.

The Proper Way to Evaluate EmployeesThe starting point is to rethink feedback as an important way to motivate your employees, rather than as something negative. Then, follow these tips for providing the type of regular feedback that can enable your employees to improve their performance.

Keep it brief It can be as simple as a compliment here, a nudge toward the right direction there. This helps avoid time-consuming course corrections and fosters good teamwork.

Focus on performance over the entire year

Suggest opportunities for improvement.

Be specific about successes and shortcomingsThis ensures that the employee stays on track.

Keep simple, regular documentationFocus on specific behaviors and outcomes, based on clear goals and objectives for the job description. Note how the employee is meeting those goals.

Develop progress reportsUse a checklist for goals to share with each employee. Consider having employees complete their own performance assessment for you both to discuss.

Listen to your employee’s inputWhat you expect may not match your employee’s abilities to perform the work.

How Health Advocate can helpOur Management Assistance Program offers personalized consultations to help managers and supervisors learn how to conduct an effective review and encourage achievement. You can also find helpful articles on managing performance on our EAP+Work/Life website.

Would your employee be surprised by anything in an appraisal if you gave it today? If “yes,” you need to monitor performance better.

HealthAdvocate EAP+Work/Life

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Troubled Workers: Managing Problems in the Early StagesA sudden change in performance or behavior can be a sign that your employee may be experiencing a personal problem. Left unaddressed, any emotional problems, family issues, work conflicts or substance abuse tend to worsen. This can lead to costly and, possibly, dangerous situations.

Understand your roleYou may be uncertain about how to confront an employee whose performance is below standard due to a personal problem. Keep these simple guidelines in mind:

Your role is to:

• Be concerned with job behavior and performance

• Remain alert to changes in normal work pattern/behavior/productivity

• Take action when the welfare of the employee and/or the organization is at risk

Your role is not to:

• Diagnose or take on the employee’s personal problem

• Be a “counselor”

• Cover up for the employee or ignore work performance problems

• Frequent absenteeism/tardiness, especially Mondays and/or Fridays

• Decrease in quality/quantity of work

• Difficulty completing tasks or meeting deadlines

• Confusion/concentration problems

• Accidents/safety violations

• Conflicts with coworkers 1 in 5 employees have emotional issues that negatively impact their work.

Another reminder… If an employee shares personal problems during a performance review, remember to keep the discussion focused on work performance. Acknowledge their personal issue, and offer possible solutions such as time off.

But also inform them that work and their personal life are separate issues and that continued poor performance could have additional consequences.

Let Health Advocate Help Support Your Management TeamOur Health Advocate EAP counselors are trained to deal with any personal problems that may underlie performance problems you have observed.

You can turn to our Management Assistance Program for guidance on identifying problems and when to refer the employee to the EAP counselor. Our goal is to help decrease your stress as a supervisor and increase the responsibility of the employee to change their behavior.

6 Warning SignsPay attention to patterns of performance problems, and document the signs of deteriorating work. Your “running log” should be objective and include specific examples that you can refer to when speaking with the employee.

Here are signs to look for:

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©2011 Health Advocate, Inc.HA-BG-1107020-FALL

EAP+Work/Life program

At a Glance

For Managers and SupervisorsAs a special feature of the EAP+Work/Life service, our Management Assistance Program offers unlimited consultation to help managers and supervisors with managerial issues, build communication skills and to become effective leaders. The program provides guidance with performance reviews, substance abuse, referring employees to the EAP program, disciplinary action and more.

For EmployeesOur licensed EAP counselors and Work/Life specialists offer assistance and support resources to help employees with personal, family and work problems.

For Human ResourcesWe offer organizational services to help with critical incident planning, conflict resolution, threat assessment, disability management and Substance Abuse Management Training.

About Health Advocate

Health Advocate™, Inc., the nation’s leading independent healthcare advocacy and assistance company, serves 22+ million Americans through more than 8,000 client relationships, helping members personally navigate healthcare and insurance-related issues, saving time and money. Our Core Health Advocacy service centers around our Personal Health Advocates, who assist members with a range of clinical, administrative and insurance-related issues. Our spectrum of add-on complementary employee- and employer-based solutions include our Wellness Advocate™, Benefits Gateway and Health Information Dashboard™, EAP+Work/Life™, Personalized Health Messaging™ and decision support programs. The solutions are designed to lower healthcare costs, increase productivity and improve outcomes. Visit us online at HealthAdvocate.com

Core Health Advocacy Integrates with EAP+ Work/Life program You and your employees always have access to a Personal Health Advocate (PHA), typically a registered nurse, supported by medical directors and benefits and claims specialists, for help with healthcare and insurance-related issues.

Our Website offers extra support

You can find practical articles and skill-building tools. You can also download flyers in both manager and employee versions on specific topics.

For personalized assistance call our Health Advocate Management Assistance Program at 866.799.2691

To search our website Go to: HealthAdvocate.com/membersSelect the EAP+Work/Life icon, then click on “online services.” Choose the “Working” tab on the menu.