Client: 14,000-employee U.S.-based consumer products company providing services worldwide Challenge: A supervisor contacted Health Advocate for help with employee conflicts on her team. Employees were spending an inordinate amount of time on personality clashes, disagreeing about the best way to discuss projects, etc. The supervisor was spending significant time and energy meeting with individual employees and trying her best to mediate and promote collaboration. The situation was interfering with her ability to do her job well. Productivity was suffering as well as morale, and presenteeism and absenteeism had increased.

Series of events: Solution: The Health Advocate Employee Assistance Program (EAP) team immediately consulted with the manager to review her efforts and coach her on effective intervention. Several consultative calls were made to co-create an action plan for resolution. Solution: The team provided: Individual coaching to the manager In-person sessions to help with leadership development and managing emotions Strategies to help the manager refer the employees who had performance decline to the EAP program for guidance with making positive changes

Results: The employees involved participated in mediation sessions with the EAP Counselor to increase conflict resolution skills. They also utilized online resources to help reinforce the sessions. The manager reported a complete positive turn-around in her employee’s and her own responses to work situations. With Health Advocate’s help, she was relieved of the distraction from trying to handle the conflict situation alone, and her productivity improved.