Leadership support and cultural safety fuel the workplace engine that empowers employees to identify, advocate for and drive workplace change. Since the racially charged 1960s, employee resource groups (ERGs) have been a valuable part of the workplace.
Joseph Wilson, founder of Xerox corporation, is credited with working with black employees to address discrimination that existed within the workplace. Not only did company leaders offer these employees support, but they provided a platform from which the employees could safely discuss their experiences.
From that time, and for approximately a half-century, employee-led resource groups have continued to multiply and thrive in the workplace. In fact, according to Forbes magazine, 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies sponsor ERGs and DiversityInc’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity all have ERGs.
The names and purposes of these groups differ from company to company. Nevertheless, ERGs, Affinity, and Equity Groups are all company-sanctioned, employee led, have voluntary participation, and exist for the mutual benefit of the employees, the company and other key stakeholders. And, because many ERGs exist to promote and support a company’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) goals, the connection between DEI initiatives and ERGs is firmly established.
Fast-forward to today. Employers and employees are learning to navigate in a post-pandemic VUCA world. Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) are the new normal both inside and outside of the workplace. The result is an unprecedented mental, behavioral health, substance misuse and addiction crisis that affects everyone either directly or indirectly. According to a 2022 Mental Health America report, 50 million Americans are experiencing a mental illness and more than 70% of illicit drug users are employed. Substance misuse alone costs employers an estimated $81 billion annually in lost productivity.
And, despite the fact that most mid- to large-size companies offer employee assistance programs (EAPs) to their employees, it is estimated that only 4% of eligible employees use the services. This underutilization, in part, may result from the fact that treatment providers and the supporting systems of care are stretched beyond capacity.
The American Hospital Association (AHA) recently reported that “the pandemic has intensified the unmet need for services and has led to heightened difficulties for individuals with behavioral health conditions in accessing care. … More than 100 million Americans live in areas with shortages of psychiatrists … and the shortage of psychiatrists and addiction counselors is expected to persist through 2030.”
Given the insufficiency and inability of traditional services to meet the mental and behavioral needs of employees, what can empathetic employers do to help a hurting workforce?
In the spirit of DEI, one creative and emerging solution encourages employers to expand ERGs to promote participation by employees who may have “lived experience” or an interest in person-centered health and wellness issues, specifically those that focus on non-clinical mental and behavioral health, substance misuse, addiction and/or recovery issues.
Why would a company consider doing this? After all, according to the Spring 2022 edition of HR Magazine, burnout and exhaustion are widespread in HR, with 42 percent of teams struggling under the weight of too many projects and responsibilities.
The good news is that the help needed to implement this creative solution is already present in the workplace, just waiting to be “uncovered.” Volunteers and willing helpers can be found among the 25 million people who are in recovery in the United States. In addition to the existing recovery workforce, countless others are simply curious about mental health, substance misuse and addiction, and would like help to find answers to questions they have about how to access resources for themselves, a co-worker, friend, family member or other acquaintance.
Several programs have a proven track record of success that could be easily adapted to ERGs. Examples include:
Recovery Friendly Workplace
The Recovery Friendly Workplace Initiative began in New Hampshire under Gov. Chris Sununu. Recovery friendly workplaces now exist in more than 25 states. Recovery friendly workplaces encourage collaboration among government, employers, and other recovery care providers within a local community.
Recovery friendly workplaces recognize that individuals who are in recovery from substance use disorders possess incredible personal strengths and characteristics that, when tapped, can create positive change in workplace cultures by eliminating barriers for individuals whose lives have been impacted by addiction, mental illness or other behavioral health issues.
Recovery Supportive Workplace
Recovery supportive workplaces are less formal than recovery friendly workplaces. They do not require a formal collaboration between government entities and members of the business community (for example, a Chamber of Commerce), plus addiction or other treatment service providers.
A recovery supportive workplace could follow the example of companies like Salesforce, whose former regional vice president of enterprise service, Marin Nelson, co-founded and promoted Soberforce, an employee-led ERG, and Belden, a cable manufacturing plant, located in Indiana, that created Pathways to Employment, a community-based solution that blends drug rehabilitation with the promise of employment for workers.
Peer Recovery Support
Peer recovery support is another low-cost, high-quality, evidence-based program that employers can implement. Peer recovery support services are provided by people who have “lived experience” with mental health, substance misuse or addiction, ultimately leading to a life of well-being and sustained recovery. The benefits of peer support groups are well documented and can be traced back to the establishment of such well known groups as Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935.
Today many peers receive formal training and certification, which makes them imminently qualified to help answer co-workers’ questions, or to assist others in navigating complex and confusing corporate or community-based systems of care.
Sober Curious Movement
The Sober Curious Movement was born in 2018 following the publication of Ruby Warrington’s book, Sober Curious. “Sober Curious” is now considered a lifestyle for many who are concerned enough about their drinking to make mindful choices about their use of alcohol.
Sober Curious employees are naturally well-suited to identify and rally other like-minded individuals, and their allies, willing to work together as an ERG to promote interesting, informative and engaging activities and events within the workplace.
Setting up the ERG
Organizations seeking innovative solutions to help struggling employees should encourage recovery champions to self-identify if they are willing to help the company form a “Recovery Ready,” “Recovery Supportive,” “Sober Curious” or similar type ERG. Doing so will create a spark that can ignite an organization-wide grass-roots recovery movement, the result of which will be the transformation of individual lives, and the creation of the type of workplace culture that is needed to create and sustain recovery-ready, -friendly or -supportive workplaces.
It all boils down to this: Mental health, substance misuse and addiction are terrible diseases. As such they are not pleasant topics most people are comfortable or eager to discuss. Unquestionably, people struggling with these issues suffer immeasurable harm, loss and sometimes death.
For this reason, these subjects are considered taboo in the workplace, which only causes the sickness of silence to spread. COVID-19 has further exacerbated the problem, creating a mental/behavioral health, substance misuse and addiction pandemic within the pandemic. Stigma, fear and misinformation are just a few of the barriers that prevent individuals from sharing their struggles or asking for help that is needed to find or access resources for themselves or others.
But just as the mythical phoenix rises from the ashes of the funeral pyre, symbolizing transformation from death to life, so does the human spirit rise from destruction and the death spiral caused by untreated mental/behavioral health, substance misuse and addiction. These diseases are treatable and reversable.
Here are some keys that employers can use to unlock and access the recovery workforce within their organizations. The first is inspiration. Inspiration is a powerful key. After all, inspiration is contagious, and, when asked to help, raises awareness of these issues. Made to feel psychologically safe, recovery champions are not afraid to engage, and that includes sharing their personal stories.
By design, ERGs must have leadership support and the freedom to operate within a psychologically safe workplace environment. Once provided, group members will feel empowered to share the stories of how their lives and families have been saved or transformed by the miracle of recovery, initially among one another, and gradually beyond the group, to inspire, encourage and engage others.
These individuals organically become “workplace evangelists” eager to share the good news with other employees that “recovery saves and transforms lives,” and, by extension, can positively impact their families, workplaces, and broader communities.
Organizations can further support this recovery-ready workplace movement by providing recovery champions with specialized training and certification. The International Association for Professional Recovery Coaches (IAPRC) offers a certified facilitator in addiction awareness (CFAA) train-the-trainer program that prepares recovery champions to plan and deliver relevant workplace initiatives, guide safe conversations, conduct lunch and learn, and other education programs related to the topics of mental/behavioral health, substance misuse, addiction and recovery, or connect individuals with community resources.
07 September 2022
Category
HR News Article