EAP and Email questions
Shelly Wexler tells her supervisor, Rob Levine, that having to care for her aging mother is forcing her to leave work early and is making her feel increasingly "stressed out." While Rob refers her to the company's EAP, he also tries to convince her to put her mother in a home for ages and even gives her some information about nursing homes in the area.
A) Do you think Rob is just showing ordinary concern for his employees, or do you think he is overstepping managerial boundaries? Discuss the supervisor's role in implementing and EAP.
B) Should a supervisor try to diagnose an employee's personal problem? Why or why not?
Does E-mail Decrease Employee Productivity?
A recent study by EdWel& Co., a Chicago-based consulting firm, examined the use of e-mail at Fortune 500 companies. The study revealed high levels of inefficiency in both message quality and usage patterns in company e-mail systems. Some people received 80 to 100 e-mail messages per day, and the average e-mail user received about 15 messages per day and spent almost 50 minutes merely reading the messages. Because half of the messages were likely to require a response, it was not uncommon for email users to spend one quarter of the workday reading and responding to e-mail communications.
The study also found a disturbingly high percentage of ineffective, poorly written e-mail messages. More than 65 percent of all e-mail messages failed to give receivers enough information to allow them to act effectively on the message. Lack of organization and clarity, poor grammar, and misinformation were all cited as common problems. The constant barrage of less-than-useful e-mail messages disrupts work flows and robs employees of productive time.
1. Management has asked you to develop a set of e-mail guidelines that addresses the problems identifies in the EdWel study. What are your recommendations?
2. Do you think employees should be trained in the use of e-mail?
3. What should be the goals of the training?
4. How might the training be delivered to employees?