EAP referrals and troubled employees: An analogue study of supervisors' decisions

Abstract

Although earlier research identified some organizational and personal factors that effect supervisors' referrals to Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), there are no data on the supervisory decision-making process as it relates to the identification and referral of impaired workers. This study addressed this need by examining 75 industrial supervisors' EAP referral decisions with 16 hypothetical employees within the context of Bayer and Gerstein's Bystander-Equity Model of Supervisory Helping Behavior. As expected, ANOVA results indicated that supervisors' decisions were differentially linked to four behaviors suggestive of problem workers: Resistance (e.g., absenteeism), Acrimoniousness (e.g., irritability), Industriousness (e.g., decreased productivity), and Disaffection (e.g., apathy). Further, as predicted, supervisors were more likely to refer employees who exhibited these behaviors than persons who did not display such difficulties. While results were viewed as further explicating the identification and referral phases of supervisor EAP interventions, given the limitations of analogue research, additional studies were encouraged to enhance the generalizability of the current findings. Research on supervisors' helping responses with employees who exhibit occupational impairments not manipulated in this study (e.g., adapting to organizational change) was encouraged as well.