Mary Jones was recently appointed to the new position of director of employee assistance programs at Mega Hotels. Over the objections of her boss, the director of human resources, Mary quickly instituted an alcohol and drug abuse awareness program in each of the hotel’s properties. Her boss opposed the program on the basis that Mega Hotels knew little about the kinds of problems its employees faced.

Mary established in-house programs at each property in the chain and hired specialists to implement and supervise the programs. The annual salaries of the five specialists averaged $24,000.

Three months later, the president of Mega Hotels asked for a status report on the employee assistance program. At that time, Mary could report only a five percent employee participation rate. The president was disappointed with this rate and threatened to cancel the program. The president asked Mary to evaluate the progress of the program and to make recommendations for its long-term success.

Discussion Questions

1. What recommendations would you make to Mary about her task? How might she evaluate the effectiveness of the program to date?

2.How could Mary have ensured greater participation in the program from the start?