A Manager Helps an Employee Address His Depression and His Heavy and Irresponsible Drinking After a Ruined Relationship
Written by admin on February 8th, 2010 in Health and Fitness.
Russ got suspended from high school when he was sixteen years old and eventually found employment at a local brewing company. For the past eleven years he has gained a reputation as a hard-working employee who infrequently calls off work due to illness.
Roughly four-and-a-half months ago he started dating a young lady named Emma. They appeared to get along real well right away and looked as if they had a lot of fun together.
The Hazardous and Excessive Drinking Begins
When Russ met Emma, he rarely drank. This totally changed when Russ and Emma began dating on a basis. In fact, everything was going fine until Emma called Russ one night around 4 AM and said that she had to call off their relationship and that she couldn’t tell him what was going on at that time.
The next morning before he went to work, Russ went to her apartment and found out that Emma had already moved out. Russ took this particularly hard. In reality, he was surprised because they appeared to be getting along so well.
When Hazardous and Excessive Drinking Leads to Problems at Work
So what did Russ do about Emma’s leaving? Rather than working through his suffering and pain, he began getting intoxicated almost every night. It didn’t take long for his pals at work or for his manager to notice that Russ was coming to work late at least once per week and that he frequently called off ill. What is more, some of his co-workers made an appointment with staff in the HR Department and stated that Russ continually came to work with a strong smell of alcohol on his breath or on his clothes.
Russ’s manager heard about all of this from Human Resources and also from Russ’s co-workers. So one Wednesday afternoon he invited Russ into his office. He told Russ that he had recently noticed a distinct change in his behavior, sick time, work performance, and in his attendance.
When a Boss Can Motivate a Worker to Get Help For His or Her Excessive and Abusive Drinking
Russ’s manager also mentioned that a number of his fellow employees reported him to Human Resources because he had been coming to work with the strong smell of alcohol. His boss then stated the following: “Russ, your fellow employees are not reporting you to the HR Department to get you into any trouble or because they don’t like you but rather because they care about you. And I am concerned too. I don’t want to interfere with your life outside of work, but it seems very clear that you are displaying some of the well known signs and symptoms of problem drinking. As a consequence, I want you to go and see a therapist in the employee’s assistance program to discuss your drinking behavior and your depression.”
“Russ, I’m no healthcare practitioner or a therapist, but I have seen many of my friends and relatives suffer through some extremely negative alcohol side effects. Furthermore, I have also witnessed the signs of alcoholism first-hand in my own family. When people experience problems with drinking, these issues not only affect the drinker, but they also make an impact on his or her co-workers, relatives, friends, neighbors, and family.”
Russ respected his boss a lot and as a result followed through with his suggestion the next morning when he called and scheduled an appointment with a healthcare professional in the employee’s assistance program.
Russ is Still Depressed But Experiences Some Hope That He Will Get His Life Back on Track
Even though Russ didn’t automatically feel any better or less depressed about the pain in his heart about Emma, he felt some comfort knowing that his boss and his co-workers wanted what’s best for him and cared about him. This gave Russ some psychological relief for the first time in more than a few weeks and he actually felt some hope that he would get back on track with his life.