The Effect of Employee Assistance Programs At the Workplace
Throughout the business world, one of the largest problems individual businesses face is the use of illegal drugs and alcohol. These substances greatly affect the business and workplace environments for many individuals. Employee assistance programs were created to help deal with augmenting substance abuse problems. Employee assistance programs enable a companies 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. Critics have noticed some problems with this program. One problem 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.
The most tremendous problems that companies are facing in the Nineties are the abuse of drugs and alcohol. Alcoholism is defined as a chronic, progressive, and fatal disease. The American Medical Association has recognized alcoholism as a disease since 1956 (Scanlon 9). An alcoholic is identified as having a severe dependency, or addiction, and a cumulative pattern of behaviors associated with drinking. Alcoholism is apparent when someone is frequently drunk, having marriage problems, driving while intoxicated, getting fired, or being arrested (Drug Abuse). A significant difference between being an alcoholic and a drug addict is that drugs, no matter what the age of the user, are illegal.
Drug abuse is defined as the use of a drug for a purpose other than for its possible intended medical purpose, which causes a person to be impaired physically, emotionally, and socially. In both cases people use these substances as a way to escape from their problems, and as a way of postponing upcoming problems in their lives (Scanlon 10). Substance abuse is the misuse of any substance leading to a loss of control over mind and body.
Employee assistance programs were founded in 1971, and they:
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Today, one out of every thirteen adults abuse alcohol or are alcoholics. That means nearly thirteen million Americans have a drinking problem. (www.niaaa.nih.gov) This topic offers a broad range of ideas to be researched within the psychological field. For this particular project, the topic of alcoholism and the psychological effects on people best fit the criteria. Alcoholism is defined as a disorder characterized by the excessive consumption of and dependence on alcoholic beverages, leading to physical and psychological harm and impaired social and vocational functioning. (www.dictionary.com) Through this project, the most important information regarding personal experiences dealing with alcoholism will be revealed. Not only are statistics, like the facts mentioned before, important when dealing with an issue such as alcoholism, but personal accounts and information are often more powerful and influential evidence. Non-alcoholics should be allowed to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for research purposes.
Employee Assistance Programs can be traced back to the late 1930s as a response by the business community in dealing with occupational alcoholism. During the early 1900’s problems with alcohol impaired worker grew dramatically and drinking on the job became a social norm. These issues ranged from significant injuries or death to simple loss of production or productivity. This became a major problem for industrial industry that was seeing a major boom in production at this time. Therefore, alcoholism became the main focuses for these businesses and job-based alcoholism programs became prevalent. By 1939, the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) movement had begun to spread throughout the Midwestern and Northeastern United States. People in “recovery" began to eagerly share their experiences with other workers and the “work rescue” movement began (Trice and Schonbrunn, 1981). Later, formalized programs were developed with a desire to reach a larger number of employees. Led by the Yale Center of Alcohol Studies, a nine step plan for implementing an occupational alcoholism program: 1) education of top management, 2) assignment of program responsibility to an existing department, preferably the medical department, 3) selection and training of a coordinator to administer the program, 4) mobilization of internal intervention resources, 5) development of a company-wide policy
Alcoholism is a major problem in today’s society it is considered a disease. The effects of this so called disease are a lot more serious than one might think, and can effect your life in a big way. Many of alcohols consumers drink frequently that they will eventually get used to it, and it becomes an everyday thing. That right there is where the problem starts. Some of the effects I found are economical, physiological, and physical, which are some of the negative effects alcohol, can have on someone’s life.
When we view substance use disorders, alcohol is the most widely used drug within the United States and 11 percent of workers have drinking problems (Frone, 2006). Over 20 million people used illegal substances in 2006 and 7 million people abused prescribed medications. Of the 18 million drug abusers, 18 years or older in 2006, 13.4 million (74.9 %) were employed full or part time (SAMHSA, OSA). These addiction problems have an expenditure of $276 billion dollars per year with most of this cost from loss of productivity and health care (H. Harwood, D. Fountain, and G. Livermore, 1992).
The Federal surveys in America depict that there is a decline in the overall alcohol consumption amongst the members of a certain age group, whereas at the same time, the concentration of high numbers of alcohol abusers are associated with a certain age group. The total number of individuals aged below 65 who abuse alcoholic beverages in America has seen a drastic reduction in the last few years. However, the number of people between the age of 16 and 30 has been rising and has induced a significant short term and long-term effects especially on the health and productivity of the victims. The federal surveys indicate that there is an increased number of people who have been affected by the long-term effects associated with alcohol abuse the since 2009 (Yoshida, 2006).
... the alcoholic of responsibility for their problem. Labeling an alcohol problem as a disease is perhaps as stigmatising as the problem itself and could have the effect of dissuading many problem drinkers from seeking help. It focuses mainly on those whose drinking has become excessive and is thus restrictive. The Classical Disease Model may appear convenient for alcoholics who want to deny they have a problem, yet it is likely to do more harm to the individual and the community than good, therefore it is clear to see why, in the 21st Century, the Classical Disease Model is viewed as entirely inadequate.
The first to advocate alcoholism as a disease was Benjamin Rush (1785-1843), and he even proposed that hospitals should be established to aid in the treatment of this disease (Cox, 1987). Since Rush, there have been many more definitions of alcoholism including the Statistical Abstracts (1979) account that an alcoholic is defined as ?one who is unable consistently to choose whether he shall drink or not, and if he drinks, is unable consistently to choose whether he shall stop or not. ?Alcoholics with complications? are those who have developed bodily or mental disorders through prolonged excessive drinking? (O?Brien & Chafetz, 1982, p.26). Further, Mark Keller of Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcoholism in March of 1960 stated that alcoholism is a ?chronic disease manifested by repeat implicative drinking so as to ca...
Typically, almost everyone in the world has taken drugs at some point in their life. Whether it be over the counter medication or prescription drugs. People get sick, they have illness, allegories, sexually transmitted diseases or other aches and pains. As you may already know, there is medication for each aforementioned problem. This is called drug use, which is using drugs for its intended purpose. However, the real dilemma happens when people began to misuse and abuse drugs.
Drug abuse and addiction are issues that affect people everywhere. However, these issues are usually treated as criminal activity rather than issues of public health. There is a conflict over whether addiction related to drug abuse is a disease or a choice. Addiction as a choice suggests that drug abusers are completely responsible for their actions, while addiction as a disease suggests that drug abusers need help in order to break their cycle of addiction. There is a lot of evidence that suggests that addiction is a disease, and should be treated rather than punished. Drug addiction is a disease because: some people are more likely to suffer from addiction due to their genes, drug abuse brought on by addictive behavior changes the brain and worsens the addiction, and the environment a person lives in can cause the person to relapse because addiction can so strongly affect a person.
Alcoholism is a disease in which the drinking of alcohol becomes uncontrollable. Compulsion and craving of alcohol rules the life of the alcoholic. Many of us drink alcohol to socialize which is not alcoholism. An alcoholic is a frequent habitual user. Alcohol, a central nervous system depressant, dulls the senses especially vision and hearing. Signs of alcoholism are tremors, delirium, inability to concentrate and many others. “According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, more than 13 million Americans abuse alcohol”(Mayo Clinic Health Information 1). There are many causes leading an individual to alcoholism. Alcohol damaging effects are physically, psychologically, and socially devastating.
Without contrast, the primary reason for drug abuse in individuals comes from the conscious state of addiction. According to Webster’s, addiction is described as “the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity (Hacker, 2011).” Sure, human nature’s desire to conform to peer pressure might cause one to first try a certain drug, but the euphoric mental states found in drugs mentally trap many individuals into becoming dependent upon these sensations. With that being said, these sensations vary depending on the type of drug used.
Cook, Philip J., and Michael J. Moore. "Health Affairs." The Economics Of Alcohol Abuse And Alcohol-Control Policies. Health Affairs, n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.
... Alcoholism is a serious problem in today's society. It is extremely important that the public, including the large groups of users and abusers of alcohol, gain as much knowledge as possible about the symptoms and effects of alcoholism if we ever want to see the reduction of statics involving fatalities, injuries, diseases caused from the use and abuse of alcohol. Education and realization of the effects alcoholism can have on the different aspects of a person's life are the best ways that we can help control the number of alcoholics in the United States.
Alcoholism is serious and widespread problems at work. The effect of alcoholism on the worker and the work are severe such as