Why It Matters ...

The Industry

There are massive gaps in the workplace programs available for mental health, wellness, addiction, and leadership and employee development.

  • While there are many organizations who provide services to individuals related to recovery from addiction, there are almost none who focus primarily on prevention.
  • There are almost no providers who offer evidence-based workplace wellness programs.
  • Less than 10% of people with addiction or emotional issues get help, and programs are desperately needed to provide encouragement, safety, anonymity, and help.
  • In this industry, there are almost no programs which provide on-site, face-to-face consulting, seminars, and coaching to complement electronic education.
  • Many large companies have EAP programs which play a positive role and should be strongly encouraged. But less than 5% of employees on average utilize those programs.
  • Many smaller companies do not have EAP programs and may have no resources to provide assistance for employees with emotional, mental health, and addiction issues.
  • Executives and managers are people, and we all have issues. They may not have a source of confidential coaching or someone they can have transparent conversations with.

Differentiation

Virtually no organizations focus on the prevention of addiction or provide a holistic program that addresses the deeper issues affecting teams.

  • The program can be tailored to the needs of each company and includes face-to-face training, prevention education, and individual anonymous coaching.
  • This is a multi-level top-to-bottom program that reaches executives, managers, and employees with principles and technique that can lead to company-wide transformation.
  • We use a holistic approach to deal with emotional, spiritual, and personal issues and help people implement a resilient lifestyle and interact effectively in workplace situations.
  • The program includes practical information on how to prevent addiction rather than theoretical, high-level guidance and is delivered in a usable, easy-to-understand manner.
  • There can be personal interaction with a coach who knows addiction issues, has been there himself, and who is willing to be vulnerable enough to talk about what it is really like.
  • Online content can be accessed anonymously for individuals to dig deeper into the issues pertinent to them, plus one-on-one counseling that can be utilized anonymously.
  • The program helps people not using EAP programs by motivating and encouraging them to seek help. It can be rolled out in conjunction with HR and Mental Health programs.
  • EAP and secular programs often ignore spiritual aspects of recovery. This program can be tailored to include the level of spirituality that fits each company’s environment.

Benefits

As well as helping prevent addiction and improve the effectiveness of all employees, our programs can help save lives, families, and careers.  

The program should reach more people more quickly since it is delivered as a company-sponsored program, and it will reach people who would likely not get resilience training otherwise. It will give people higher odds of avoiding addiction or relapse and position them to help other people they know, such as their family. It will generally improve the lives of everyone involved, help create an effective work environment, and deliver a substantial ROI to the company.

  • Delivers training that will enable employees to be more effective at work, have better relationships, and achieve personal excellence.
    • Executives will receive personal and leadership benefits and get satisfaction from supporting a program that greatly helps their employees.
    • Managers will become better at managing their teams effectively and will receive training that will help them become better leaders as well.
    • Employees will avoid or lessen the impact of addiction, learn a lifestyle that brings them more peace, satisfaction, and purpose, and add more value to their organization.
  • Provides a significant ROI for companies since workers with substance issues are: 33 percent less productive; twice as likely to miss work; 40 percent of industrial fatalities and nearly half of workers’ compensation claims; 3 times more likely to use medical benefits; and extremely expensive, costing employers $7000 each annually.
  • Most people with addiction issues work, and many of them are high-performers and leaders. This program can help retain the experience of good employees and proven leaders because less of them will leave the workforce, either temporarily or permanently.
  • Avoids possible issues with customers or suppliers and averts possible law suits.
  • Provides a valuable benefit program as an extra incentive for employees.
  • Increases morale by establishing a culture of trust and openness.
  • Prevents workplace problems before they impact other employees.
  • Helps save some employees’ career, their family, and perhaps their lives.

ROI

You can increase employee productivity, reduce turnover expenses, lower medical costs, and reduce problems from accidents and incidents.  

The information below is used in conjunction with Organizational Wellness & Learning Systems (OWLS), and is from a book co- authored by Dr. Joel Bennett, the founder of OWLS.  

Preventing Workplace Substance Abuse: Beyond Drug Testing to Wellness,(Joel B. Bennett and Wayne E. K. Lehman, Editors)

Prevention programs may be a sound investment for businesses for at least four compelling reasons (cf. Cook & Schlenger, in press).

First, substance abuse is relatively prevalent in the work force; more than 70% of illicit drug users or heavy drinkers are employed full-time, nearly 1 in 10 employees abuse drugs or alcohol, and many Americans do not even start using drugs or alcohol until after they join the work force (SAMHSA, 1997, 1999, 2001).

Second, such abuse has significant costs to employers, including absenteeism, accidents, theft, performance problems, and medical expenditures as well as costs to public image and stakeholder trust.

Third, because substance abuse is often associated with other behavioral problems (e.g. poor stress management, argumentativeness, hostility, withdrawal on the job, and illegal activities) and collateral costs to coworkers, prevention can enhance social health and safety within a company.

Finally, because prevention programs can encourage employees to get help and receive the right form of treatment, employees are likely to recover their health. Scientific evidence has established the effectiveness of drug abuse treatment (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1999), and the cost of treatment and rehabilitation is often less than the cost of firing and having to replace an employee (Collins, 1999; Sturm, Zhang, and Schoenbaum, 1999).    

When we couple knowledge that substance abuse is relatively prevalent and costly to employers with the knowledge that prevention training can reduce risks for substance abuse, it is fair to conclude that employers are likely to reduce costs at some point after implementing training programs.