Travis County Commissioners Court
November 22, 2005
Item 27
Number 27, approve 12 month extension modification number five to contract number 03 t 000580 j, alliance work partners for the employee sis sense program for the Travis County employees. Some member of the court had a question?
>> I did. Linda, how many people roughly do we serve -- does the alliance work partners serve in Travis County?
>> about 10% of our workforce, which would be about 400 per year.
>> and those -- the range of services that are performed for that is what everything from marital problems to checkbook justification to -- I guess the thing that strikes me here is -- and I understand that we've done this for, what, 15, 16, 17 years? Is that how long Travis County has done this?
>> actually, eight.
>> I know when I came to Travis County, one of the first contracts I worked on was the aep contract. It was a different provider at that point in time. We've gone through two or three over that time period. And I’ve been with the county for 17 years and it was not a new contract in the first year I got here. I don't know how long before I got here that there was such a contract.
>> so we spend 52,000 -- we're going to extend the 52,000-dollar a year program. I don't know. Probably the last thing that I would do is call somebody here at the county wanting this kind of assistance. I mean, it just seems like it's an odd thing for government to spend -- this is typical of what somebody on the street will say. Why do we spend money on something like that? You expect -- get your life in order. Come to work, do the job you're supposed to do, and I don't think that it's government's spot to give you this kind of service.
>> if I may, Commissioner Daugherty, at the time that we took a look at this particular service before going to the contract tral relationship with alliance, the city of Austin as well as the majority of the state agencies provide this employee -- this counseling service for employees. It is not done internal to Travis County, of course it's privately contracted. And the services are delivered by licensed professional counselors. One of the things that we don't see, and I guess it's good that we don't see it, is because the services that are provided here are really taking care of many of the personal issues that many times employees will bring into the workplace with them. And without a service like this, our fellow employees are involved in counseling their fellow work mates very often. What this provider does is give us an alternative to say to an employee who may be having problems, marital, with children or just whatever that personal problem may be, that the alliance work partners exists and are skilled and qualified to provide you with the type of counseling and referral services that you may need. 10% of the workforce that participate were actually at a higher level on the national average in terms of the number of employees who do participate in this type -- take advantage of this type service. A couple of things that may be hidden to you as Commissioners is that when we got the call from hhs and said many of our employees are becoming impacted by the counseling that they're rendering to the hurricane evacuees, what can we do? Alliance work partners went in to hhs and provided counseling services to our staff to meet their emotional needs as it related to that service. There have been some instances where we have had regrettably some surprise death within the Travis County family. We've had alliance work partners come in and work with the department staff who have lost their fellow worker unexpectedly. Another point that kind of ties into it is that there's a coordinating relationship between this particular service and united health care on the mental behavioral services that are provided by united health care. So if an employee goes through the first line of service with the alliance, and then if there remains a need for continued counseling, then they're able to access our united health care benefits service. So with that there theoretically is a reduction really in the level of access to our health care program because this serves as a first line of service to that. There's one other point that you may not be aware of is that when we are charged to do the random drug sampling tests of our employees operating automobiles, etcetera, if we find employees who happen not to pass those tests and they then are required to go through drug counseling, this service provides that counseling for them. So there are a number of ways that we're happy we have utilization reports from the alliance work partners that really are statistical. I mean, there's no reason that I couldn't share that, but it does begin to break down the type services that our employees are accessing this service for. And if you want that, I’d be happy to provide it.
>> this was one of the 46 nonprofits that I happened to visit, and it is the mental health and it is the counseling piece of benefits that we offer our own employees. Sometimes what's going on in a person's life is not a question of something where some drugs or medicine or whatever is going to make it better. There are issues going on within a family, and this is an extraordinarily cost effective way to get people connected with folks that will make their lives go better. And I have personal experience of folks who have utilized this and say that it was a life saver within their family. It's done on a basis that we pay a very small amount per employee per month, and it's there for anybody that needs it. And we can save more in terms of people not having to use their very precious personal days and medical days and vacation days to get themselves -- and the ones I know of, their families connected and to get health, get health in their families. Sometimes it's not about going to a doctor, sometimes it's about other things. I find this to be very preventive.
>> on the average of $12 per month per employee is what the rate is. Per dollars a year. $12 a year per employee.
>> when you've got a 39-dollar health insurance contract, this is the kind of thing that takes a lot of stuff off of our plate. And I think we all know through dealing with our social service contracts about the importance of counseling, and that is a component we pay for for others, and it ought to be something -- linda, is this a pretty standard part of a benefits package in terms of comparing to the city and the state?
>> exactly. The city of Austin has such service and in fact with the same vendor, if I’m not mistaken, that we're with. And also --
>> the federal government also has something like that too.
>> as well as the private sector offers employee assistance.
>> it's pretty standard.
>> it's a pretty standard benefit.
>> it may be standard for government, but I don't think that it's standard for small business people. And maybe that's where -- as a small business person, I will just tell you that that is -- this is not something that's standard. You expect people to take care of themselves. You expect people to take care of their lives as much as they can. And you expect them to come to work and you expect them to do the job because they expect you to write a paycheck. And the people that write the paychecks in this community are the taxpayers. And so I realize there's probably --
>> Gerald wharks it might be is the kind of industry because at channel 24 I can guarantee you we had an employee assistance program because that is a very stressful job of what you see everyday in terms of that I think that government might simply because of the nature of some of the jobs here that we've got some people that are really asked to do jobs that some people just wouldn't. And there are stress and other kinds of trauma issues that are just not standard in private industry. I guarantee you in television they've got it.
>> once we benchmark some of the major high-tech employers here in Austin and we do have those employers, without calling their names, who are like the top five major employers in the area that offer this particular service benefit.
>> as far as maybe a curve, do you see that as far as the use, is that constantly going up as far as the persons that are requesting the service? Has it been pretty even keel? Are you finding valleys and peaks in usage as far as employees?
>> what we find is that utilization tends to increase around the last quarter of the calendar year or in that period now, around the holidays.
>> right around this period?
>> around the holiday season. It's a very stressful time for many families, for many, many different reasons.
>> it's very stressful.
>> I mean, I’m stressed out just -- [ laughter ] I don't think I’ve ever called anybody. [ laughter ] [overlapping speakers]
>> life is stressful. [ laughter ] I just don't get it.
>> I can guarantee you that the employees know that their families can go through this counseling and -- it would cost so much money to get private counseling.
>> and one of the problems too is that we have gotten nothing but good feedback. I mean, usually you'll get feedback, customer service surveys that says, there's a problem with the service. We have gotten nothing negative about this particular vendor. I think I better close my mouth and get the action before the court.
>> you already got the vote.
>> all in favor? Show Commissioners Gomez, Davis, Sonleitner and yours truly voting in favor. Voting against, Commissioner Daugherty.
>> thank you, linda.
>> give me that number, linda. [ laughter ]
>> I brought a brochure for you.
>> what's the verdict on 31 a and b?
>> go ahead and give the number so any employees may have it.
>> the toll free 1-800-number is 343-3822. 1-800-343-3822.
>> do you get this counseling during work hours if you called and said it's 2:15 but I’m about to have a nervous break down, do you go over right then?
>> it available, yes, for the employee 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
>> Gerald, most people do go over after work and in the weekend. They get it all scheduled.
>> okay.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, November 22, 2005 2:41 PM