By Courtney Pohlit, Director of People & Recruiting
By Courtney Pohlit, Director of People & RecruitingAt Ruppert Landscape, our number one value has always been the well-being of our people. Part of that value statement says, “When life challenges emerge, every ounce of energy will be put into working through them and developing reasonable solutions.” It is with this mindset that we offer an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), providing practical assistance with life’s ups and downs.
The origins of EAPs date back to the 1930s, when awareness of occupational alcoholism first came to light. By 1940, Alcoholics Anonymous was formed and those who had been through recovery were sharing their success stories. It wasn’t until the 1970s that laws were finally passed to enforce state and federal involvement in the treatment of alcoholism as a disease and EAPs were established with specialist centers for support of alcoholism.
Today, EAPs provide support to employees for a wide variety of things, including but not limited to substance abuse, stress and depression, major life events such as births and deaths, family/personal relationship issues, financial and legal concerns.
Through UnitedHealthcare, our health insurance provider, employees and their immediate household family members are eligible to participate in an ALL Employee Assistance Program. This means that whether you have health insurance through Ruppert, through your spouse or parent, or no health insurance at all, EAP is available to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week just for being a Ruppert Landscape employee. This service is of no cost to you for an initial intake and assessment of your needs with support as necessary, and also provides referrals to additional resources such as counselors or more in-depth programs when needed. All participation in the EAP is completely confidential and not shared with Ruppert management.
To access EAP, visit the www.liveandworkwell.com or call 877-660-3806 and use access code FP3EAP.
We also provide another referral service through Adventist Healthcare called Lifeworks Services for managers to engage more closely in helping employees with troublesome issues that are impacting their work performance. For example, if management is aware of an employee’s substance abuse problem that is impacting their job, they will be enrolled in a mandatory EAP in order to continue employment with Ruppert. In these situations, the manager contacts Human Resources and an agreement is drafted. The employee signs the agreement, acknowledging that they are willingly entering into the EAP program in order to maintain their employment and address their issue(s) and also granting permission for EAP to notify Ruppert of their compliance with the program. All other information is kept strictly confidential between the employee and EAP counselor, within the limits of the law. This mandatory version of EAP includes up to six sessions with a counselor at no cost to the employee, and a referral outside of the EAP may be given at any point during this time if necessary.
As a company, we can only succeed if our people have the resources they need to succeed in their personal lives as well as professional. Ruppert Landscape is committed to every employee’s wellbeing, growth and development – through the highs, but especially through the lows. If you would like more information on how the EAP can help you or a team member, please reach out to your supervisor or Human Resources.