Keeping Employee Morale High When Another Employee Is Getting Rehab Help

Addiction is a problem that often spreads beyond the person it directly affects. It can hurt their families as well as their coworkers.

Often, addiction and addiction treatment may cause low morale that can be devastating to a workplace. Therefore, if one of your employees is going into a residential drug rehab center, you need to understand how to handle this situation to keep your employees’ morale as high as possible.

Low Morale Can Impact an Entire Business

When your company’s workers have low morale, it can affect every element of your business. Their work may slow, its quality may worsen, and you may end up losing money. Some common causes of low morale include:

• Lack of respect
• Low pay
• Poor communication
• High turnover
• Problems with employee health and well-being

So, when an employee leaves the office for an extended period, their coworkers’ morale may drop. As a result, it is vital for employers to understand this phenomenon and how to keep it from worsening.

Understanding Employee Morale and How to Boost It

When you better understand the root causes of low morale – such as employees who feel a lack of respect – you can better boost it when your employee goes into rehab. The first step is to talk to the individual about their addiction and the treatment that they have chosen. Make sure that they understand that you care about them and that you want the best for them in this situation.

Be open, honest, and sincere, and they will reciprocate. Let them know that you’ll help them keep their job and that you won’t share information that they want to keep private. Often, many in this situation don’t want to share personal information. However, their absence from the workplace may affect their coworkers’ morale, especially if they think that their supervisors are lying or are keeping things from them.

As a result, you’re kind of in a tight spot. Your employee in rehab deserves space and their privacy when receiving care. However, their coworkers also deserve to know that they or their coworkers aren’t in trouble and must take steps to take care of themselves and their jobs. But there are things you can do to ensure that you boost employee morale and keep everyone happy in this challenging situation.

Steps to Help Employees

One of the first steps to take when an employee has a drug addiction is to get them into rehab. Give them the time off that they need to receive care and attention.

This step is wise because it is often more time-consuming and expensive to train a new employee than to help a current one get better. These actions also help this individual’s coworkers feel cared for and respected, which could enhance their morale.

Just as importantly, you need to let employees know what is going on and talk about it. First, you must receive the permission of the person in treatment to determine what information you can share. Talk to the people in their department about what is happening, let them know that the individual is safe, and offer advice on what they can do to help their coworkers.

You might want to give your employees time off so they can visit their coworker. This step is respectful and helps to keep team morale high by building and strengthening connections. By taking these steps, you may end up losing a little money and productivity. But the morale benefits may be significant enough that the cost-to-benefit value is more than worth it.

Next, when it’s time to reintegrate that employee back into the workplace, let them return on their terms. Give them room to feel comfortable and make it known that they can choose their return date.

Give them the opportunity to handle the situation in ways that they find comfortable. Make sure that their coworkers know when they are coming back and keep them updated in other ways to boost employee communication and morale.

Don’t Hesitate to Find Outside Help

If you believe that you need help addressing your employees’ addictions and aren’t sure where to turn, many rehab centers can help.

Also, consider touching base with your workplace’s human resources department to integrate beneficial care options for all your employees’ needs. Doing so can help employees better handle this situation and improve morale at the same time. These benefits make it more than worth any money you may spend.

Sources

governing.com – Why Is Public-Employee Morale So Bad?

fec.gov – Root Cause of Low Employee Morale Study

cdc.gov – Raising Employee Morale

drugabuse.gov – Treatment Approaches for Drug Addiction

usa.gov – Mental Health and Substance Abuse

Author Bio: Patrick Bailey is a professional writer mainly in the fields of mental health, addiction, and living in recovery. He attempts to stay on top of the latest news in the addiction and the mental health world and enjoy writing about these topics to break the stigma associated with them.

Website / Blog URL: http://patrickbaileys.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Pat_Bailey80

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-bailey-writer