Should companies offer employees a lifeline?

• Author: Lilienthal, Peter W.
• Position: Business & Finance - Employee support system for personal and company growth

JUST LIKE the uncertainty experienced by contestants on the TV game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," employees have uncertainties and insecurities about their jobs. These doubts can include questions about company policies and procedures, confusion over benefits, not knowing where to go to share ideas, or reluctance to raise concerns about organizational problems. However, in contrast to the three "lifeline" options available to the game show's contestants, employees are typically provided with few, if any, good ways to receive guidance about their workplace-related questions and concerns. That is because most companies continue to rely on traditional and often-inadequate and ineffective communication tools. Only in a few well-run organizations do "open door" policies, intranets, and internal hotlines provide trusted, reliable ways for employees to get real help with their ideas, questions, and concerns.

There is good reason why employees are reluctant to raise their hands. In today's fastpaced, ever-changing workplace environment, there are significant risks in calling attention to oneself. All too often, individuals who ask questions end up getting yet more work heaped upon them, or they get labeled as disloyal and/or troublemakers. Some even end up losing their jobs. So, other than airing their opinions around the water cooler, employees tend to suffer in silence or, worse yet, leave the organization. With that challenge in mind, what can companies do to improve the likelihood that employees will come forward with their questions, concerns, and those golden nuggets of insight that can improve the firm's bottom line? Similarly, what can boards of directors and accountable executives do to make certain that no one is cooking the books of hiding information that could embarrass them and perhaps even end in a jail sentence? The solution can be as simple as offering them the corporate equivalent of a "lifeline."

As used in this article, the term "lifeline" refers to a new breed of outsourced systems designed to encourage employees to speak up about workplace concerns. These programs are different, albeit conceptually complementary, from what are known as employee assistance programs. That kind of widely utilized service is targeted towards individuals who need assistance with personal issues such as marital conflict, substance abuse, and financial woes. In contrast, an employee lifeline service is designed to help in obtaining guidance about frustrations, questions, and challenges related to the workplace. Providing outsourced employee lifelines is a business that is experiencing rapid growth, particularly in response to the push for greater corporate accountability. If boards and CEOs are going to vouch for a company's conduct, they need to assure themselves that they are doing everything possible to identify problems proactively, and an employee lifeline service could be the best way to do that.

For a variety of reasons, many companies fail to accept that their established communication channels aren't functioning effectively. Nevertheless, the evidence is often right before management's eyes in the findings of the periodic employee satisfaction surveys firms conduct. Quite often, the area that is...