Combating Alcohol Problems at the Worksite

Presented by Eric Goplerud, PhD

A new initiative, known as the BIG (Brief Intervention Group) Initiative is bringing Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) together to intensify the fight against alcohol abuse. Although EAPs have their roots in identifying and supporting workers with alcohol problems, it’s estimated that they currently engage only about one out of every 20 seriously impaired workers. Alcohol problems that cause lost productivity, absenteeism, excess emergency department and hospital use by those that are not engaged by EAPs – the other 19 out of 20 workers – add $61 billion to the nation’s health care bill per year. While the workplace remains a logical focal point for help, since approximately 77% of individuals with a substance use disorder are employed, new efforts will be brought to bear to identify employees in trouble and bring them recovery resources. Most EAPs, which employers think are addressing this problem, do a very poor job of case finding for alcohol and drug problems.