Change is a natural part of life, but when change is proposed in the workplace, employees are often very resistant to the proposal. Throughout the business world, one of the biggest problems that companies are facing is the use of illegal drugs and alcohol in the workplace. These substances greatly affect the business and workplace environments for many individuals and I believe that there should be more employee assistance programs.
Employee assistance programs were created to help deal with substance abuse problems. Employee assistance programs enable a company and its workers to detect if a co-worker is having problems and aids in helping them to overcome their problems by giving them advice or suggesting counseling. Also, employee assistance programs are designed to assist in finding and to aid in solving productivity problems associated with employees impaired by alcohol, drugs and any other problem that affects the employees job performance.
One problem with employee assistance programs is the lack of confidentiality and the fact that co-workers and bosses are afraid to confront their workers.
In order for companies to minimize their loss of money, and for employees to stop ruining their lives and the lives around them, the employee assistance program is a necessity. Appropriate prevention and intervention efforts with employee assistance programs will save companies from losing experienced employees, and save employees from failure and even death.
Loss of productivity within a company is another major cause of businesses starting to implement employee assistance programs. Companies lose billions of dollars due to substance abuse. The more stress a job causes to its workers the higher the chance
those workers have of becoming substance abusers. Some indications of substance abuse may be, being late, especially on Mondays and Fridays, frequent unreported emergencies or accidents, frequent sickness, depressed or anxious attitudes, fatigue,