Coaching your employees can be a very worthwhile venture.  As company owners, managers and supervisors, we are often looking for ways to increase revenue and manage costs.  Sometimes we overlook our greatest assets- our employees.  In order to build loyalty and morale, employees must feel they are a valuable and important member of the organization in which they work.   When employees and supervisors communicate well  and work together towards the common goals of their organization, productivity and morale will improve and employees will be happier. Keeping long term, loyal employees is far more cost-effective than recruiting and retraining new employees who have replaced burnt out, unmotivated, unproductive employees.  Well coached employees are creative forces who can be counted on to provide solutions their supervisors may not have considered.  As an employer, you may want to consider training supervisors to coach their employees.

Supervisors can become good employee coaches by learning and engaging in the following:

1. Learn your employees’ strengths and weaknesses. This helps the coaching relationship create positive results.

2. Identify barriers to success.  These barriers can be limitations such as a lack of resources or education, information, training, a positive attitude or more.

3. Determine what motivates your employees. There are many types of motivators and different things work for different people. Once understood, motivators become powerful tools for helping employees remain enthusiastic about learning and coping with chage. One of the the most important and overlooked motivator is good communication between the supervisor and employee.  Employees appreciate knowing what is going on in their organization and having an open door policy with their supervisors.

4.  Communicate your organization’s strategic direction and the company’s goals.  Helping employees to understand the “bigger picture” is very beneficial to the coaching process.

5.  Learn when it is appropriate to intervene with an employee when an error could create substantially negative consequences to the employee or the company as a whole. The supervisor must learn when to avoid a pattern of rescuing or jumping in too early which can undermine the employee but also when to step in.

Successful employee coaching helps employees understand goals and expectatons to that they may act instead of waiting for instruction.  Because coached employees don’t have every solution dictated to them from above, they tend to take greater ownership of their work and demonstrate greater responsibility than employees who are not coached.

Coached employees are also better prepared to maximize their potential. With that, everyone wins.

This blog article was written  from excerpts of an article written by Daniel Feerst, LiCSW,-CP   www.workexcel.net

If you would like more information about how we coach managers and supervisors, please contact us at audreyr@fee-eap.com

A cancer diagnosis can be terrifying and overwhelming on many levels.  The employee must determine her medical benefits and treatment options as well as define how her treatment may affect her work.  It can be very difficult to share the news with one’s  boss and co-workers.  There is no correct way to disclose the diagnosis of breast cancer and it is important for employees to choose the way that feels best for them. Remember that while supervisors have a legal obligation not to disclose confidential employee information, co-workers do not.  Employees may wish to inform management first, while other times, they are the last to know. While telling co-workers is not necessary, they can be a source of support both emotionally and with personal assistance.  Some colleagues organize meal prepartion, asisstance with chores, fundraising or donating their sick days to the individual who has breast cancer.

Employers are required by Federal law to provide “reasonable accomodations” for anyone with a disability.  According to the Americans wth Disabilities Act (ADA) cancer qualifies as a disability when the disease or its effects of treatment hinder an individual’s “major life activities”.  These accomodations can vary greatly, depending upon a person’s need.  According to the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), examples of accomodations include:

• Time off for physician appointments and to recover from treatment
• Short breaks during the work day to recover
• An altered work schedule
• Temporarily assigning some job tasks to another employee
• Changes to the workplace environment, such as temperature changes or workstation changes to insure comfort
• A work-from home arangement

According to the EEOC, the word REASONABLE is key. Employees with breast cancer can’t make requests of their employer that would cause them “undue hardship”. The term “undue hardship” is different for every company. Smaller companies who have more difficulty operating without a key individual for a period of time and someone with unique or very specific skills who is not able to be at work regularly could pose a problem for some employers.  However, most employers are willing to provide accomodations as much as possible.

Under the ADA, cancer qualifies on a case by case basis.  The act protects individuals from losing their jobs due to disability and sets guidelines for employers regarding required accomodations.  The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) also protects the jobs of people with a cancer diagnosis, however not everyone qualifies under FMLA.  An employee must have worked for the employer for at least 12 months prior to the FMLA request and have worked more than 1250 hours in that calendar year. In addition, employers who have fewer than 50 employees do not have to follow FMLA regulations.

Source: About.com

If you have an employee with breast cancer, it may be very helpful to ask her what she needs or wants. Does she want her colleagues to know? Does she want to take time or off or work reduced hours? What kind of accomodations does she need? As treatment progresses, she may have a better idea of how she feels or if she is responding to treatment. Employers need to be flexible with the plan whenever possible as the employee’s needs may change. The EAP can also be a great resource for the employee both by providing emotional support and brief counseling and also locating other resources to help her.

Sometimes an employee does not respond to treatment and the disease spreads or becomes very aggressive. Some employees choose to work until they are very ill, others do not. At this point, co-workers may be very upset about a friend and colleague’s deteriorating condition and may begin anticipatory grieving if she is terminally ill.  While it can be very helpful and healing to meet as a staff group to process feelings, employers should be careful how this is handled.  A group meeting could either be very helpful to the ill employee or perceived by her as inappropriate and make her very uncomfortable.  It may be helpful to consult with the employee assistance program about the best course of action depending upon the situation.  If an employee does pass away, the EAP can be very helfpful by assisting with a grief group and helping employees process their feelings in a confidential and safe environment.  The EAP can also help the employer reach out to the family and plan a memorial at work if desired and appropriate.