ENLIGHTENED FIRMS HIRE OUTSIDE HELP TO AID TROUBLED EMPLOYEES

Tax time's next week. We're still in the Middle East.

And then there are the usual year-round problems: teenage children, bumpy
marriages, conflicting schedules, aging parents, too many bills, poor
health insurance.

It's enough to drive workers - and their managers - to serious distraction.

Fortunately, many companies long ago had the foresight to add an employee
assistance program, or EAP, to their benefits packages - one more thing
enlightened firms do to hang onto their employees. They know it's very
costly to hire and train someone.

Today, with a stressful economy, war and life's usual problems, EAPs may be
more valuable than ever.

One of the largest providers, Magellan Health Services of Columbia, Md.,
covers 27 million workers at nearly 2,000 companies, among them the
motivational and corporate-travel giant Maritz Inc., based in Fenton.

That bland term, employee assistance program, covers a wealth of services
for workers, regardless of rank, who need professional help for legal
hassles, compulsive gambling, depression, anxiety, financial planning,
alcohol and drug abuse, and the like.

"EAPs cover anything that can impact 'presenteeism,'" said Kristin L.
Brunnworth, Magellan's spokeswoman.

Everyone knows what absenteeism is.

Brunnworth defines presenteeism this way: "Somebody can be at work, but
they are not doing any work. You know: 'My daughter just got kicked out of
school because they found drugs on her.'"

For Terry Goring, Maritz's vice president of human resources, it made
eminent good sense 25 years ago for the Fenton company to provide services
to help employees deal with everyday issues that could undermine their
productivity.

Some HR managers argue that there's nothing enlightened about having an EAP
available. The company's self-interest is obvious: Effective, toll-free
counseling should be standing by around the clock.

The idea is to help employees with emotional traumas, said one HR manager
at a large local company.

For a flat fee, a company of any size can sign up with providers such as
Magellan, whose counseling operation is based in Maryland Heights. The
extent of service dictates the fee.

At Maritz, for instance, Goring said the cost runs $20 to $30 an employee
for four to six sessions for each "crisis." So Maritz spends about $150,000
tops to ensure that its roughly 5,000 workers could get the short-term
guidance they need in a crunch.

The usual usage rate is 3 percent to 4 percent of the work force a year,
Goring said. In some companies, where employee stress is higher, the usage
rate could be double that.

Many employees never take advantage of their company's EAP. Others use it
often. If they need more than short-term help, usually they are referred to
other professionals.

Sometimes, as with medical care, those services could be covered by
insurance. Others, such as legal advice, the employee would have to pay for.

With the war in Iraq, chances are that at least a few employees have
relatives or friends somewhere in the theater of operations.

Goring and his staff will never know that. Under EAP rules, employees are
assured confidentiality.

That's a natural outgrowth of the evolution of EAPs. Goring and Brunnworth
both said the idea for comprehensive, confidential coverage grew out of
alcoholism and drug treatment programs of the 1960s and 1970s. While those
might have been handled in-house, their effectiveness was in doubt because
of the lack of confidentiality.