A Case Study 583high degree of credibility. The Civilian Personnel Of“ce pro-
vided education and training in many transition areas, includ-
ing opportunities in self-employment. This training was
successful in allowing individuals to begin their own busi-
nesses but was also successful in dissuading those whose
probability of success was low.
The United Way
The United Way representatives for Kelly provided signi“-
cant contributions to the transition process. The referral agent
(RA) system was a vital link between the workers and neces-
sary services they required. They were the eyes and ears of
the base organizations. The objective of the RA system was
to maintain an informal network of employee volunteer lead-
ers to help transitioning coworkers and positively impact
mission accomplishment. The RAs provided limited referral
information with more complicated cases being referred to
appropriate agencies. The RAs were informational points of
contact. These volunteers worked in the very same settings as
their peers and were well-known to their coworkers, enabling
them to carry a considerable degree of credibility, which was
often hard to come by on the working ”oor. They also pro-
vided quantitative data to management on workforce needs
and stress levels. RAs provided assistance with a minimum
disruption to production, conformed to federal and state
con“dentiality policies, and encouraged coworkers to take
advantage of available transition services. They were not
meant to counsel, solve problems, or make decisions. They
did not discuss coworkers• interviews with others, and
they did not intervene in potentially violent situations. Under
the contractual agreement between Kelly and United Way,
three base program managers were provided to oversee and
support the RAs, provide monthly in-service training,
and compile monthly service reports. The 11-person profes-
sional staff at the United Way conducted 20 hours of entry-
level training to each RA, provided information and referral
back-up during regular work hours, and provided a 24-hour
counseling and crisis intervention helpline. United Way
involvement provided a neutral, highly credible third party.
This non-Air Force af“liation enabled them to reach employ-
ees in denial or distrustful of being identi“ed to base services.
This appealed to the employee•s strong need for con“dential-
ity based on unsubstantiated concern that identi“cation might
result in an early lay-off.
Barriers and Goals
Given the nature of the organizational transition, the OHP
program relied on consistently produced, long-term results.
Plans and projects were developed to provide appropriate
services and interventions in a timely manner. However,
timeliness is relative to the perceptions of the community
served. Events were not always predictable, and projects
evolved slowly in this particular environment. The overall
population required increased awareness and encouragement
to become involved in making use of available services.
One signi“cant barrier in achieving program results was
acceptance. As with most organizational entities, Kelly
was composed of a multitude of different subgroups. The
initial objective was to elicit information from work groups.
In general, individuals who were not members of labor were
perceived as management, automatically providing a signi“-
cant barrier to communication. At the very least, a nongroup
member would be seen as an outsider. Super“cial, polite con-
versation might take place, but it took considerable time to
establish meaningful dialogues. This communication barrier
hindered service gap identi“cation, as the OHP was per-
ceived as looking for problems. Persistence and a near-
constant presence on the shop ”oor were means to overcome
this resistance.
A number of the IDS group members were frequently
involved in providing workshops and presentations for all
levels of the Kelly community. These presentations focused
on topics such as violence in the workplace, suicide aware-
ness, and stress management. They were offered both at the
worksite and at other base facilities at a variety of convenient
times. The attendees were assured that these presentations
were informal, and attendance was not of“cially docu-
mented. The informal setting and educational nature of the
sessions encouraged involvement because workers did not
have to acknowledge a problem but could participate just to
obtain information.Transition Life Advisor ProgramOne very important achievement of the OHP program was
establishment of a Transition Life Advisor (TLA) Program.
Based on the monthly report of service and information re-
ferrals made by the RAs, a group of signi“cant problem
areas„categorized as work related, mental health, medical,
“nancial, protective services, substance abuse, and legal„
emerged. RAs reported that a relatively constant group of
individuals consistently sought information for the same
problem areas. This appeared to support the idea that ap-
proximately 10% of any workforce needs some assistance at
any given time. Of that group, approximately 25% to 30%
(2.5% to 3% of the total workforce) are dealing with signif-
icant problems and are chronic, heavy users of the service
system.
It became necessary to target service intervention to
provide for the needs of this high-risk group. In the TLA