Health, Money and Love

Did you know that a well written informative article can actually be a hazard to your employee’s health? Here’s why. . . Imagine an informative article on “Compulsive Gambling” in your organization’s employee wellness newsletter.

What would you rather see–an article with 5 to 6 questions that helps an employee begin seeing that he or she has a gambling addiction, or an informative nice, long, exhaustive article that includes all 20 quiz questions from Gamblers Anonymous, so the employee with a concern really knows for sure if they have a problem?

Many freelanced-authored employee newsletters with long feature articles go for the whole enchilada–the 20-question option included–and, as a result, “over-educate” the reader. It’s a big mistake. And it can expose your organization to greater risk. Did you think it should be just the opposite? It’s not!

After 20 years of writing workplace newsletters for work organizations, I have learned that the best approach is to have only 5-6 questions in this type of wellness article.

But why? Isn’t that a disservice to the reader? How underhanded you might think.

No! An article that discusses a health problem that includes strong components of denial is better able to help an employee or point the employee in the direction of solving the problem if it gives enough information to create a sense of urgency that motivates the reader to take action.

Too much information can undermine the desire to take action. A shorter, less informative article permits the author to motivate the reader to hunger for more information, and possibly get help for the personal problem–whatever it might be. In the above example, it is compulsive gambling.

The goal of such an article should be to motivate the reader to follow the instructions within the article to the next step. In other words, articles in wellness and EAP-type newsletters are not entertainment. They are sales letters!

Unfortunately, the risk is great that the more information an employee has about a personal problem, the more likely it is that he or she will become educated enough to self-treat the problem or (at worst) add to their intellectualizing to avoid treatment, perhaps with a dose of added willpower thrown in to control symptoms.

Intellectualizing about a personal problem is the most difficult defense mechanism for professional helpers to penetrate. Of course, self-diagnosis is a good thing, but with diseases prone to denial, and in the absence of a professional steering the decision to accept help, defense mechanisms can overwhelm decision making because they are so ingrained. When this happens, employees often pursue self-treatment or partial cures, if at all. And they may never go see a professional helper!

The result? RISK!

Have you heard the catchy phrase associated with advertising that says, “Be sure to leave them wanting more.”? This sums up my point.

When informative health articles provide only a measured amount of information and leave the employee “wanting more” with instructions on how to get it, it is easier to motivate the employee to get help–and professional motivational counseling can increase the likelihood of proper treatment being accepted.

Hopefully, an employee assistance program is available to your organization and it is one that knows your work culture well. A newsletter is an excellent tool, and a vital one frequently missing, and the cause of a poorly functioning employee assistance program.

Long articles with lots of information decrease utilization of an employee counseling program and increase behavioral exposure for the work organization. When it comes to problems like violence in the workplace, prevention could be as simple as an article on anger management that prevents an employee from a horrible act.

Articles in employee newsletters are loss prevention tools. The goal should be not to just create better employees, but to create better people. Your company’s employee newsletter has power. Use it to maximize the help employees receive and the good it does for the whole organization, even society along with your bottom line.