How to Refer Employees

It is important to understand that the services and supports available through PSN are voluntary. PSN does not have the mandate, power, or authority to force anyone to seek or accept help. PSN does acknowledge that there are times when an employer expects an employee to attend for support and assistance and that the employee’s employment status depends on their participation. This situation may not seem ‘voluntary’ to the employee and as such, PSN does offer management training that highlights the most effective ways to encourage employee participation in the EFAP and how to make referrals with or on behalf of the employee.

The most common referral practices by an Employer are as follows:

Informal Referral

In discussion with an employee, he/she acknowledges that they are struggling with a personal or work related problem. As a supervisor or manager, you could remind the employee that the EFAP is available to assist them and encourage them to contact PSN to set up an appointment. From a supervisory or management perspective, this is where your responsibility and knowledge of what the employee decides to do will typically end as your involvement is strictly to provide information.

If you are concerned that the employee will not follow through on accessing the EFAP services and you believe their performance will suffer by not getting the assistance, then you may want to make an official ‘informal referral’ to PSN with the employee’s consent. PSN has a ‘referral’ document that you would discuss and complete with the employee; this document includes a ‘consent to release information’ that you would both sign. Typically, the information that is released with this type of referral is with regard to attendance only, not specific details about the issues or concerns being addressed. The purpose of the informal referral at this level is to strongly encourage the employee to attend on their own to prevent a more formal or employer-mandated referral from occurring in the future. The benefit to the employee in this situation is that their issues remain more confidential than with an employer mandated referral.

Mandated or Formal Referral

This type of referral is made by the employer (typically a supervisor or human resources personnel) when there are concerns regarding the employee’s work performance. The employer directs the employee to attend the EFAP to resolve the issues of concern and a ‘consent to release information’ is expected to be signed by the employee so that necessary information and reporting expectations can be shared with all parties. Examples of when this type of referral typically occurs include:

• Employee receives a positive drug result when tested
• Employee is experiencing personal issues that are impacting work performance
• Employee is not meeting established employment standards or job responsibilities
• Employee is struggling with interpersonal relationships with supervisors/co-workers and reacting with anger/violence in the workplace

The employee has the right to refuse such a referral however the hope is that they will be open to receiving help so that they can resume functioning in the workplace at their full potential.

Union Referral

This is an informal or formal referral initiated by a union representative. The process that is followed is similar to that described above.