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Home » Services » HR & Finance » Employee Assistance Program (EAP) » Supervisors

Supervisors

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Leaders play an important role in supporting their employees. EAP provides specific services to supervisors, managers and HR leaders to help them in their efforts to provide that support. EAP also provides tools leaders can use to be more effective in their roles. Services to leaders include organizational consultations, referrals to the EAP, critical incident response and tools to promote personal and professional development.

Services available to all covered employees and/or family members include counseling, work/life, 24/7 support and awareness, education and resources. If you have questions about EAP services, please review our Frequently Asked Questions, call EAP at 877-313-4455, or request an organizational consultation.

Organizational Consultations

EAP provides consultation for supervisors, leaders, and HR professionals. Organizational consultations are provided by our skilled EAP staff counselors with experience and knowledge working in the public service sector. Our team has expertise on topics including substance misuse, anger management, suicide, domestic violence, trauma, and organizational management.

Challenges for which EAP offers consultation include:

  • Performance or disciplinary issues
  • Substance misuse
  • Managing change
  • Conflict
  • Domestic violence
  • Sexual harassment
  • Illness and death
  • Mental health
  • Suicidality
  • Safety concerns
  • Secondary traumatic stress

  1. Submit a request for an organizational consultation.
  2. Within 1 business day of receipt of your request, the on-call EAP counselor will follow up with you to schedule a time for the consultation.
  3. During the consultation, you and the EAP counselor will:
  • Identify the primary concern
  • Discuss the concern’s impact on the employee, the workplace, and you
  • Discuss resources and referrals
  • Identify next steps to support you in your efforts to support the workplace, the employees, and you

Your participation in EAP is voluntary and strictly confidential. We do not report back to your employer about the things you discuss in private counseling conversations. To learn more about how we protect your privacy and the limited exceptions to confidentiality, review the Notice of Privacy Practice for the Washington State EAP.

Referrals to the EAP

Employee well-being and a healthy, effective workplace are closely linked. Employees with low well-being exhibit declines in work performance, have higher rates of illness, are absent more often and are involved in more accidents. To promote employee and workplace well-being, it may be necessary at times to encourage an employee to seek support from the EAP.

Self Referral: an employee independently contacts the EAP to access services. The superviser will not be notified of EAP contact without the employee’s consent.

Informal Referral: a supervisor encourages an employee to get support from the EAP. The referral is not related to work performance concerns. The superviser will not be notified of EAP contact without the employee’s consent.

Formal Referral: a work performance management tool used by a supervior or human resource manager to refer an employee to the EAP for work performance problems. When considering a formal referral, the supervisor should speak with an EAP counselor first (an organizational consultation) to discuss the concerns and to come up with a plan.

To make a formal referral, follow the organizational consultation process.

If the outcome of the consultation is a recommendation for a formal referral:

  1. Meet with the employee.
  2. Discuss the concerns.
  3. Inform the employee that you have made a formal referral to the EAP.
  4. Discuss what you hope to see that suggests the employee is making progress.
  5. Review with the employee the feedback you are allowed to receive from the EAP about the employee's participation with the EAP (RCW 41.04.730).
  6. Contact the EAP to notify us that you met with the employee and informed the employee of the referral.

Critical Incident Response

When a significant loss or traumatic event occurs, the EAP can help guide leaders on what to do in the aftermath and talk through best practices for supporting their work group.

If appropriate, the EAP can facilitate a debriefing or an educational group about grief or trauma. This isn’t always needed, but in certain overwhelming situations like the traumatic death of a coworker or an act of workplace violence, it can be helpful for an EAP counselor to facilitate a session.

To request EAP's critical incident response services, use our organizational consultation request form or call 877-313-4455.

Supervisor Tools and Resources

Frequently Asked Questions

Review our Frequently Asked Questions.