Problem solvers.

Employee-assistance programs cost less than replacing workers.

On Christmas Day this year Rachel will have three years of sobriety, with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous. She is a 37-year-old single mother with three daughters and a house in Anderson, and because recovery is usually

A poor job-performance review helped pave the way. The worse her drinking became, the more her work suffered. Rachel's supervisor suggested that she consider the company's employee-assistance program, or EAP. If she did, the supervisor said, nobody in the company would know any details, it was company-sponsored and free, so why not give it a shot? Rachel did. With the help of her supervisor, Rachel found EAP, AA and sobriety.

According to the Employee Assistance Program Association in Arlington, Va., employee-assistance programs assist in identifying and resolving productivity problems caused by personal problems. Causes that adversely affect job performance cover the gamut of human experience: marriage and divorce, families and relationships, financial and legal problems, stress and anxiety, alcohol and drugs.

Aimed at reducing the financial impact that personal problems wreak on corporate bottom lines, EAPs are estimated to save employers between $5 and $16 for every dollar invested.

General Motors Corp., Indiana's largest private employer, reports that an EAP covering 10,000 employees saves $37 million annually. United Airlines, which operates a maintenance facility at Indianapolis International Airport, says it gets a return of $16.95 on each dollar spent on employee assistance.

Donald L. Childers of Childers Counseling Service in Indianapolis describes EAPs as a "bridge" or hiatus between personal problems and the initiation of group medical insurance coverage. The majority of gAP clients he counsels start to cope with their situations before the personal problems veer out of control.

If clients need further counseling or treatment beyond the amount allowed by an EAP, Childers can refer them to Alcoholics Anonymous or other addiction programs, as well as such agencies as the Consumer Credit Counseling Service. In cases of dual-diagnoses - such as alcohol and depression or drug abuse and personality disorders - he refers clients to medical treatment covered by their health insurance.

Yet while EAPs help workers solve a wide range of problems, the main threat to workplace productivity continues to be alcohol and drug abuse. In an economy on the upswing, and with Indiana unemployment rates among the lowest in the country, the cost- of financing an EAP is far less than replacing workers who suffer from alcohol and drug problems. In Indiana and other states, the estimated cost of replacing a salaried worker is $7,000. It rises to $10,000 at the mid-management level, and to $40,000 for senior management.

Parenting, marital problems, divorces, relationships, anxiety, depression and elderly-care issues are other problems treated through EAPs like the Lindenview Employee Assistance Program in Fort Wayne. Lindenview is a service of Parkview Behavioral Health, a division of Parkview Health Systems.

Mary Ann Bleeke, manager of EAP and corporate services at Lindenview, says the organization serves 55 companies with payrolls ranging from 15 to 4,200 in northern Indiana, southern Michigan and western Ohio.

"Area companies are realizing how cost effective short-term preventive therapy is in curbing costs associated with absenteeism, tardiness, co-worker relationships, and loss of individual productivity," says Bleeke. "We are seeing an increasing number of cases that revolve around the stresses of supporting elderly family members. Worry, depression, fear and anxiety can be extremely debilitating. They cut across every racial, ethnic, education and religious line."

Despite the wide ranging need for these services, many employees are reluctant to take advantage of EAPs. Of the total number of employees and dependents eligible to participate in the Lindenview Employee Assistance Program, slightly less than 6 percent use its services. Bleeke attributes the percentage to the trickle-down communications flow from management and unions to employees. Even though EAPs are voluntary and confidential, it usually takes a few employees to test the waters before word of the benefits spreads through organizations and other employees begin to participate.

With managed-care controls forcing a reduction in in-patient treatment periods, treatment centers such as Fairbanks Hospital in Indianapolis look to EAPs to help stem the tide of alcohol and drug addiction into the next century. According to Barbara Porter Norris, executive director of clinical services at Fairbanks, the 28-day detox-and-treatment stays that were once standard procedure have shrunk to seven to 10 days because of managed-care restrictions. And relapse rates are up.

Norris says EAPs have helped change attitudes about addictions treatment. "It's very difficult for alcoholics and drug addicts to face reality and admit they have a problem," she explains. "It was a common belief for a long time that you can't make a person get treatment. That's changing. Having a supervisor tell them they face losing their job if they don't shape up has a tonic effect. EAPs are a motivator for people to take action."

Despite the benefits and cost-effectiveness of EAPs, Indiana businesses have not exactly beaten a path to their door. Donovan Bare, director of employee assistance programs, central diagnostic and referral community consultation at St. Vincent Hospital and Health System in Indianapolis, estimates that between 300 and 400 companies in central Indiana have EAPs.

"There are many companies," he explains, "that continue to be unaware of the program, or have yet to associate the havoc addictions and emotional distress play with corporate health-care costs."