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Feature Article |
Business Professionals urged: Use Employee Assistance Programmes to Maintain Organisation Wellness
“We’re at the beginning of what is going to be a difficult time around the world”, said Dr. Dale Masi, Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland, and President and CEO of Masi Research Consultants Inc. Dr. Masi was speaking on the topic “Surviving the Downturn: Maintaining Organisation Wellness in Uncertain Economic Times” at The Ideas Forum - a free seminar hosted by the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business on March 11, 2009.
The harsh reality of the global recession and corresponding widespread economic downturn has become all too personal to many working people today. The result in workforce downsizing has resulted in significant changes in work, social relationships, and health related behaviours for many employees and their families.
According to Dr. Masi, major organizational changes which commonly occur in times of economic downturns, such as downsizing, mass layoffs, forced mergers, and budget cuts, typically produce three distinct affected constituencies:
1) Employees separated from the organization
2) Employees who are left – the “survivors”
3) Managers who must carry on and rally the troops
“When individuals are involuntarily separated from their livelihood, a greater risk of behavioral health problems are likely to occur”, she said. These include depression, anxiety, substance abuse, domestic violence, and physical illness.
The ‘survivors’ however, may perceive the organization as having behaved unjustly or treating those separated unfairly. Another frequent issue for survivors is the reality of having to accomplish more with less resources, often with no increase in compensation. These issues were said to require proactive approaches to prepare the workforce for major changes.
One such approach is the use of an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), which Dr. Masi explained:
“An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is a professional assessment, referral and short-term counseling service offered to employees with alcohol, drug and emotional problems that may be affecting their jobs. These employees may self-refer or be referred by supervisors, mangers or other staff.”
She urged her audience to work proactively to promote existing Employee Assistance Programmes, stress management resources, and supportive counseling for survivors and managers as they struggle to cope with new workplace realities. “EAPs can help organizations to re-create a sense of normalcy after tumultuous changes occur or during the transition from one phase to the next”, she said.
The Lok Jack GSB offers a similar programme – an Employee Management Assistance Programme (EMAP) - that maintains the goal of conventional EAPs but is designed to guide both employees and Managers through personal challenges which affect their quality of life and job performance. It is a unique service because it offers special services for managers, that is, a separate managerial telephone line, special management consultation, and specific training for managers in dealing with problem employees.
Other speakers at the Forum included Michelle Clarke, Group Human Resources Manager, Neal & Massy Holdings Limited, and Denise Ali, Assistant Vice President Human Resources, Guardian Holdings Limited.
Republic Bank Commercial Customer Business Development Programme
The Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business in collaboration with Republic Bank Limited launched another dynamic Commercial Customer Business Programme at the School’s Mt. Hope Campus on April 28th 2009.
The four week programme is geared towards equipping business owners with viable new skills which, in today’s financial climate, are critical to a business’ competitivity and success. This was the sentiment expressed by Jacqueline Quamina, Acting General Manager, Republic Bank Limited, who addressed the participants at the launch. Quamina also indicated that the next step in the development for the participants was to become a part of a strong base of dynamic businesses which would help Trinidad and Tobago pull through the current downturn.
Nirmala Harrylal, Consulting Manager at the Lok Jack GSB, indicated that the current group would represent the sixth cohort to graduate from the business development programme. She also highlighted the School’s commitment to and collaboration with organisations like Republic Bank Limited in designing and developing business development intervention.
Perhaps the most encouraging of the speakers at the launch was Matthew Oliver, graduate of the Commercial Customer Business Programme. Oliver spoke as to the real world merits of the programme in areas of strategy, marketing, financial planning and understanding the local, regional and global environments. He praised the attention given by the programme’s facilitators to key aspects of business development and summed up his experience as a participant as “the way my business has moved toward a more successful future.”
The group then broke for workshop sessions.
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Accountability & Transparency
15th, 16th & 17th Junel 2009
Overview
Accountability and Transparency is the way forward. This course will provide you with the knowledge and skills which can help you to deal with your internal financial and accounting problems as you tackle with the massive threat of the global financial crisis.
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Project Management Essentials
May 26th, 27th, 28th , 2009
Overview
The foundation of what you need to know to manage projects in today's business environment is presented in this three-day course. PM Essentials provides a broad overview of the concepts and practices used in managing projects effectively in today's business environment.
It covers the basic concepts of four essential project management processes: defining requirements, scheduling, risk management, and change control.
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Project Monitoring and Evaluation for the Public Sector
May 26th, 27th, 28th, 2009
Overview
A fundamental reality is the fact that Public Sector projects are faced with certain challenges which are not common to projects within the private sector. This is generally so given that private sector projects are profit-oriented and public sector projects are people-oriented. The challenges with public sector projects are linked to the following:
- Bureaucracy
- Regulations and conditions of multilateral agencies such as the World Bank;
- Large number of stakeholders; and
- Size, complexity and Cost
This training workshop will promote, among participants, the development of the necessary skills and techniques for project monitoring and evaluation. In the final analysis this will improve project design and implementation.
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Strategic Marketing
May 12th – 13th, 2009
This programme first seeks to describe today’s marketing environment and the critical nature of the marketing spend in a recession. It also focuses on understanding customer behaviour and presents a methodology for uncovering the value that customers are looking for in financially hard times.
Furthermore, the programme goes on to give participants innovative ideas and insights on how to formulate cost-effective marketing campaigns when operating with restrictive marketing budgets. Here alternative promotional activities which are less costly than traditional advertising and promotions will be explored. A discussion on product portfolio adjustments, trade management and pricing will then follow. Finally, economical and novel customer retention strategies will be examined.
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Macroeconomic Analysis & Business Planning
May 21st – 22nd, 2009
As the world economy slows and the global financial crisis unfolds, managers confront a more profoundly uncertain business environment than most of them have ever faced. Companies must evaluate a broad set of macroeconomic outcomes and then implement strategic responses to become more flexible, aware and resilient. Such companies are more likely to survive the crisis, and even to prosper.
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Succession Planning
May 25th – 27th, 2009
This is the time when companies should be preparing to emerge out of the recession equipped to gain and maintain competitive advantage. To achieve a superior workforce a company must practice superior Human Resource Management, an important aspect of which is Succession Planning. This is the process of assessing and auditing the talent in a company in order to ensure that there are enough potential successors available who can be appointed to key positions. This 3-day workshop will examine Succession Planning in the context of Strategic Human Resource Management. It will also look closely at a practical template for implementing succession planning within any organization.
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Value-Based Pricing Strategies
May 25th – 27th, 2009
This workshop can help participants to improve sales and profits by showing how customer value can be measured and used as the driving force in product or service pricing. It extends beyond a discussion of generic pricing approaches available to managers by examining the strategic pricing decisions that drive business success in today’s economy. By linking prices to customer value, this programme provides individuals with a strategic pricing framework that can be used to create a competitive advantage for their organization within an increasingly competitive environment.
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Team Building
May 13th - 14th 2009
Overview
The Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business will conduct a two-day workshop on team building and team strengthening.
On day one, participants will be exposed to the dynamics of teambuilding. On day two, they will be taken through an experiential teambuilding and team strengthening process. This workshop will allow participants to explore and appreciate the strengths in their diversity in a manner that will facilitate easy transfer to the work environment.
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Selling Techniques for the 21st Century
May 19th – 20th, 2009
Overview
This workshop will provide salespeople with strategies, tools and insights required to succeed with customers against a backdrop of tough economic times and limited budgets. Participants will learn a consultative approach to selling where they can become a partner to the modern day customer by selling solutions and not just products.
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Effective Business Writing
June 8th – 10th, 2009
Overview
This Three-day course is the ideal way to learn the skills of effective written Communication. It is both informative and practical with excellent back-up course notes to form a valuable reference source for the future. A course that is completely up to date and suitable for everyone in business who has to communicate using the written word.
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Public Sector Events:
Finance and Resource Planning
26th & 27th May 2009
Overview
The primary objective of this module is to deliver a comprehensive approach to managing resources within the context of public sector event planning. It seeks to nurture and develop core competencies needed to facilitate meaningful inter-departmental interaction as far as deliverables within stipulated parameters are concerned. The intention is to maximize the benefit you will get from understanding the fundamentals of resource management and the way they are applied within the public sector.
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The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad
Website: http://www.gsb.tt Telephone: (868) 662-9894 Fax: (868) 662-1411