Management

Employee Assistance Programmes - what are they?

By Will Campbell ⋅ December 12, 2008 ⋅  Printable version ⋅

Employee Assistance programmes, or EAPs, are schemes put in place by the employer to assist their workforce in all sorts of ways which are outside the traditional parameters of the employer’s jurisdiction. Normally, EAPs are used alongside, and augment, employee health benefits, and in many cases extends to not just the employee, but the employee’s family. There is no single answer as to what is contained within an EAP, it depends very much on the sector, the organisation, the budget and the employees. Typically, such programs include referral services and short-term counselling for the employee (and possibly other members of their household) and are typically offered to employees free of charge. Issues which could lead to an employee using the service might be:

• Workplace conflicts,
• Personal relationship difficulties,
• Substance abuse,
• Addiction issues,
• Personal Development issues.

The key concept is to provide a mechanism to all employees to discuss and address all issues which may be seen as stressors to that individual, and depending on the level of assistance to be provided, to deal with and resolve those issues in a quick and effective manner. By taking this approach, organisations can have a direct, proactive influence on the stress levels experienced by their staff. For example, an employee may be suffering from stress with personal issues, say a terminally ill parent. Whilst this would traditionally be seen as outside the concern of the employer, these issues are not something that can be banished during work hours. The colleague will be stressed at work, will be distracted, and possibly suffer longer term issues if the illness is prolonged. The productivity and effectiveness of the staff member will be affected, and therefore the organisation suffers. By providing immediate assistance, the company can help the individual, and by doing so, help the company.

How does it work?

This all depends on the individual EAP agreement, however, short term counselling, whether by telephone or face to face, is a key element. The EAP could also include a referral service, or provide additional services direct. So whatever the cause for the employee to contact the service, the request would be dealt with within the EAP, or referred to another professional. The service is usually free of charge to the employee, anonymous, and confidential. Reports to the employer provide information on the uptake and usage of the service, but never individual cases.

Costs and benefits

There are numerous statistics for absence rates and costs. In their recent 2008 survey on Absence Management the CIPD have noted the average direct cost to businesses for absenteeism is £666 per annum per employee, up from £656 in 2007. Individual sectors, such as hotel, catering and leisure, have put absence cost as high as 5% of payroll. Several studies have shown that implementation of an effective Employee Assistance Programme have achieved a reduction in absences rates of between 25% and 50%. Coupled with direct intervention with counselling services for stress etc. this leads to a workforce who not only are present more, but are more productive due to decreased stress levels. One study showed a cost saving to a particular company of six to seven times the capital cost of the programme.

The benefits to having an EAP are many, here are some more of the more obvious:

• Reduce stress levels in individual workers leading to increased individual productivity increase,
• Reduced stress levels within teams, leading to more effective workers,
• Increased loyalty in staff to the organisation who is seen to be “looking after them”,
• Reduced levels of substance abuse and addiction levels,
• Increased overall wellbeing of staff, leading to cultural and ethos improvements,
• Employee retention rates increased,
• Attractive benefits to potential recruits.

We will look closer at the benefits to EAPs in future articles.

Tags: EAPs