An employee assistance programs is an employee benefit programs offered by
many employers. EAPs are intended to help employees deal with personal
problems that might adversely impact their job performance, health, and
well-being. EAPs generally include short-term counseling and referral
services for employees and their household members. Supervisors may also
refer employees based upon unacceptable performance or conduct issues.
In 2007, two researchers from the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland
conducted research on EAPs in Europe. Tony Buon & John Taylor reported a much
higher awareness of EAPs in the United Kingdom and Ireland than in Denmark,
Germany and Switzerland. They also found that the HR and other managers involved
with EAPs were working at a relatively senior level but had a relatively low
level of participation in the buying decision; there is a possible mismatch
of services included in EAPs compared to what respondents actually want. The
researchers also reported that purchasers generally believe that EAPs
provide value for money. They also found little difference between organizations
and participating countries in the reasons for establishing and maintaining
EAPs or in fact in the anticipated benefits.
Services Employees and their household members
may use EAPs to help manage issues in their personal lives. EAP counselors
typically provide assessment, support, and referrals to additional resources
such as counselors for a limited number of program-paid counseling sessions. The
issues for which EAPs provide support vary, but examples include:
substance abuse occupational stress
emotional distress major life events, including births,
accidents and deaths health care concerns
financial or non-work-related legal concerns
family/personal relationship issues work relationship issues
concerns about aging parents An EAP's services are usually free to
the employee and their household members, having been prepaid by the
employer. In most cases, an employer contracts with a third-party company to
manage its EAP. Some of these companies rely upon other vendors or contracted
employees for specialized services to supplement their own services, such as:
financial advisors, attorneys, travel agents, elder/child care specialists,
and the like. Confidentiality is maintained in
accordance with privacy laws and ethical standards.
In the United States, California requires EAP providers who deliver
actual counseling services on a pre-paid basis for more than 3 sessions within
any six-month period to have a Knox-Keene license. This is a specialty
license for psychological services and is mandated by the Knox-Keene Health
Care Service Plan Act of 1975. The state's Department of Managed Health
Care regulates these licensed plans and assists consumers with regard to
grievances, access to quality care, and ensuring that the EAP has an appropriate
level of tangible net equity to deliver services to plan members. Title 28, Rule
1300.43.14 of the California Code of Regulations allows EAPs without a
Knox-Keene license to request an exemption if they solely refer callers
to external services and do not provide the actual services themselves.
Benefits for employers Some studies indicate that offering EAPs
may result in various benefits for employers, including lower medical
costs, reduced turnover and absenteeism, and higher employee productivity.
Critics of these studies question the scientific validity of their findings,
noting small sample sizes, lack of experimental control groups, and lack of
standardized measures as primary concerns. Proponents, however, argue
that the consistency of positive findings across studies in different
service sectors denote at least some positive effect of programs, even if the
most effective components of such programs have not been determined. EAPs
may also provide other services to employers, such as supervisory
consultations, support to troubled work teams, training and education programs,
and critical incident services. The provision of employee assistance
services has established business benefits, including increased
productivity of employees and decreased absenteeism.
Criticism Employee assistance programs have been
criticized for their lack of impartiality in cases where an employee
seeks assistance due to work-related issues, or where an employer recommends
that an employee seek help through the program. Programs where EAP providers
are employed by the same company as the program participants are particularly
criticized as being another arm of company management. EAPs lose their
ability to identify troubled employees when they are managed by external
insurance companies or managed care affiliates, whose primary focus is on
saving health dollars at the expense of outreach and the identification of
troubled employees who pose risk to the work organization.
History Most employee assistance programs date
back to the 1960s and 1970s as in-house alcoholism programs that formally
recognized a recovering alcoholic executive's Alcoholics Anonymous 12th
Step work. San Francisco Bay Area companies with such programs include
Standard Oil and Bechtel Corporation. In the early to mid-1970s such programs
expanded their focus to include emotional, family and drug-addiction
problems, and hired more broadly-trained counselors to provide short-term
counseling and referral to outside resources. San Francisco Bay Area
companies who started broad based programs during this period include
Pacific Gas & Electric Company and Wells Fargo Bank. The shift from in-house to
external programs began in the late 1970s - early 1980s time frame as
acceptance of the value of EAPs grew and concerns developed over confidentiality
and privacy. In July of 2015 an in-depth study was
started by Lamar University in Beaumont, TX. The results from this study will be
used for further development of the EAP for municipalities and local government
employees. Global Issues
In 1997, Tony Buon and Xiaoping Zhu developed the first EAP in the People's
Republic of China in Shanghai and began promoting the EAP concept throughout
China The Hong Kong Christian Service also provided EAPs in the then
UK-administered Hong Kong from 1993 and reported “good usage” by Chinese people
of their EAP. Today there are more than 20 providers of EAPs in China
See also Industrial and organizational psychology
Occupational health psychology Work-life balance
Workplace interventions Workplace stress
Workplace wellness References
EAPA UK buyers guide, 2011 EAPA UK Guidelines 2012
EAP Students Help Guide External links
Professional associations in the employee assistance program industry:
Employee Assistance Professionals Association – worldwide association
Employee Assistance European Forum – 23 European nations
Employee Assistance Society of North America – United States and Canada
Asia Pacific Employee Assistance Roundtable - Asia Pacific
Associated Counsellors & Psychologists - Australia
Associated EAP - Employee Assistance Association
Employee Assistance Professionals Association - United Kingdom
Employee Assistance Programme Association - Ireland