As part of our series focusing on workplace wellbeing, we take a look at Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), how they benefit workers and businesses, and how they function in the workplace.
What is an Employee Assistance Program?
An EAP is a service designed to help employees deal with and resolve problems, either at work or home, that are impacting on their wellbeing. It’s also an advisory service for managers and supervisors who might need help with their staff’s welfare or with their own personal concerns.
An EAP’s main aim is to provide people with confidential, expert assistance and support in times of stress.
Is an EAP service always outsourced?
Typically, for small to medium-sized businesses, an EAP is outsourced to a speciality provider. This ensures the efficacy and confidentiality of the service, which in turn encourages people to use it.
Some large organisations may have in-house EAPs, employing staff to run the program, and others use a hybrid model of employees overseeing the service in conjunction with third-party specialists.
How does an EAP typically work?
EAP is a short-term support service that usually allocates 3 initial sessions for an employee or their immediate family member, to access talk therapy. The employee contacts the service to request support and the EAP service sets them up with a talk therapist. They attend the therapist’s office location or have their sessions online.
The service should also provide access to helpful tools and resources for employees.
.Is EAP just counselling?
A good EAP service will provide a range of specialists, e.g. counsellors, psychotherapists, and clinical psychologists, who use a variety of psychological assessments and therapeutic approaches to support clients.
Why do businesses (and employees) need an EAP?
We bring our whole selves to work. When your staff start their work day they bring all their concerns and emotional challenges with them. If workplaces want to create innovative and highly efficient workforces, they need their people to be motivated, focused, and healthy.
EAP gives your people a confidential way to access support that can help them deal with their concerns and emotional challenges.
What are the risks of not having an EAP?
In today’s competitive labour market and the climate of the ‘great resignation’, employees expect workplaces to invest in their wellbeing. It’s no longer a nice-to-have; it’s an expectation, and holding onto your talent requires that you provide it.
An EAP service provides a way for your people to access the talk therapy support that they need when they need it. Without it, research shows that you risk higher employee disengagement, absenteeism, turnover, and potentially, disputes.
What are the elements of an effective EAP?
An effective EAP should offer a range of specialists and specialist expertise to support individuals. There should be a variety of therapy modalities and timeframe options. As much as possible, the user of the EAP service should be given options to ensure the support offered fits their needs.
Most importantly an EAP service must be confidential; it is essential that employees have trust in the confidentiality of the EAP support or they will not use the service.
Should the EAP options be tailored to the business?
For some workforces this is very important. Examples of this would be if your workforce has high exposure to trauma, or perhaps your workforce operates in remote regions of Australia – these workforces will need their EAP provider to understand the unique needs of their people and have a service set up that can effectively deliver for them.
How does an EAP affect business costs?
There are various returns on investment (ROIs) talked about in reference to providing wellbeing support to workforces: 12:1 or 5:1.
In today’s environment, it’s really important to consider staff retention and the cost of replacing people. In many industries, it’s estimated that it takes 6 months for a new staff member to be fully able to achieve their entry-level position deliverables. If we add to that the recruitment time, you’re looking at about 9 months where a particular role is not being well delivered. Added to that is the stress on the remaining staff left to cover the tasks usually held in this role, and you can see that the business costs are considerable.
EAPs positively support business costs as it is a much more affordable way to keep your staff managing both their personal and work challenges. They will continue to deliver their role requirements and be in the headspace to advance, streamline, and innovate workplace activities.
What other things should employers consider when setting up an EAP?
Think about how you will encourage workers to use the service, i.e can they take time from work to go to appointments? Where will the information on the service be available? What employee groups need to know about the services (HR, People Leaders etc)?
