PAVING COMPANY SAVES BY INVESTING IN EMPLOYEES
Safety has been a major reason for the start-up and operation of an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) at Chamberlain, a paving contractor in Laurel, Maryland, specializing in parking lot maintenance. Over a three-year period, increases in Workers Compensation and Commercial General Liability exceeded 100%. By implementing a Safety Awareness Program, the company saw an immediate and significant decrease in the frequency of workers compensation claims and vehicular accidents.
Because the company's heavy equipment and trucks travel daily on interstate highways around metropolitan Washington D.C., the owners felt it was necessary to implement an alcohol and drug policy. Years ago, a local consulting firm helped with the development of this policy by working with the company's human resource advisory group. The process included meetings with all employees to explain the rationale for the new policy and an opportunity for employee input.
In the course of those meetings, it became clear that designing an alcohol and drug policy would not magically solve all the problems associated with these negative behaviors. The 75 full-time employees needed a mechanism to deal effectively with personal problems so that, if necessary, they could find help, take a leave of absence to deal with their problems, and then return to the company and improve their productivity.
Chamberlain asked its consultant to solicit proposals from qualified EAP providers to implement and manage an EAP. At a cost of approximately $3,000 a year, Chamberlain's EAP provider now offers quarterly training sessions for all employees and counseling on family, financial and other problems in addition to those related to alcohol and drugs. Each year, a significant percentage of Chamberlain's work force seeks help from the EAP counselor, which is a testimony to the complete support and confidence that employees have for this program.
Supplementing the EAP is a drug testing program managed by a separate organization. Preemployment, post-accident, probable cause and monthly random testing are conducted.
Since the inception of the EAP and the drug testing program, the company has witnessed a marked decrease in job-related injuries and accidents as well as in absenteeism and tardiness, a significant drop in insurance costs on the magnitude of approximately $50,000 annually, and an increase in the quality of workmanship. All told, Chamberlain probably saves in excess of $60,000 a year and gains immeasurable additional dollars as a result of customer satisfaction, quality workmanship, higher employee morale and the lack of 'go-backs' on the completed job.