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?
