Municipal Employee Assistance Programs: Managing Troubled Employees

Abstract

It is almost commonplace today to read front-page stories of damage done by substance abuse to professional careers of athletes, entertainers, and public officials. It is estimated that 10 percent of the nation's work force struggles with alcoholism, 2 percent with drug addiction, and another 6 percent with emotional problems. ' Many public managers may be aware of employees whose personal problems adversely affect job performance. It is debatable, however, whether many are knowledgeable about their organization's policy toward troubled employees, aware of what can be done for them, or are informed about employees' legal rights. A 1978 U.S. General Accounting Office survey of 81 federal installations confirmed this; it also found that top management officials possessed negative feelings about their organizations' rehabilitative programs.2 Some did not believe they were in the hand-holding business, and others were concerned with the cost of social actions such as alcohol and drug counseling relative to the resources invested in the installation's primary mission. This latter feeling was articulated despite the GAO's finding that funding and office space devoted to such programs were often limited and inadequate. 3 The most common approach to managing troubled employees, that of employee assistance programs (EAPs), evolved from industrial alcoholism programs. Consequently, the EAP literature (and practice) is dominated by a concern with alcoholism and alcoholrelated issues, and, with very few exceptions, draws from private sector experience.4 Differences exist, however, between public and private sector personnel rules, employment practices, and legal obligations to employees. Differences may even exist between those who seek public sector employment and those who seek work in the private sector.5 The EAP literature provides inadequate information about the likely incidence of troubled employees in the public work force, the identification and counseling of public employees, and the problems of EAP implementation in public organizations. This article seeks to sensitize public managers to the issue of troubled employees, and discusses the employee assistance program as one approach to managing this type of employee. Although one must be cautious in extending findings reported in this article to other cities,