Handling Supervisory Referrals

A small percentage of clients seen through the Employee Assistance Program are formal “supervisory referrals”. These cases are referred directly through the employer due to a concern regarding the employee’s work performance. Some of the reasons for supervisory referrals may be, but are not limited to: attendance issues, tardiness patterns, productivity levels, anger management issues, not adhering to a workplace policy, positive drug or alcohol screens, etc.

In these cases, the client is referred as a formal supervisory referral and is required to attend a minimum of three (3) sessions. Prior to the first session, information is provided by the individual’s supervisor or HR contact person as to why they are being referred. This information will be shared with the counselor to insure that the session is spent addressing the issue(s) for which they have been referred.

At their first session, the employee is asked to sign a (limited) Release of Information to a Directions EAP counselor or case manager. This limited ROI gives permission for the counselor to share that the employee has made and kept their appointments, is cooperative, and any work-related recommendations that are made to the employee can be shared with the employee’s manager or HR contact.

Case management telephone calls/updates will take place throughout the time frame that the client/employee is being seen to determine that they are continuing to follow through, any progress (or lack thereof) regarding the work performance issue, that they are complying with recommendations, as well as feedback from the employer as to their observations of the employee on the job.