Employee Assistance Programs

In today's competitive workplace, it's becoming more commonplace for employers to offer their employees a helping hand.  The packaging of these support policies is referred to as employee assistance programs or employee assistance plans.

When you're looking for a job, you'll want to understand the complete package of benefits your employer has to offer.  In this article we're going to first attempt to define what is meant by an employee assistance program including the components of a good program.  Next we're going to discuss one of the biggest concerns with these types of programs - confidentiality.  Finally, we're going to talk about the ways these programs can be structured and provide an example of a typical policy statement.

Employee Assistance

The purpose of an employee assistance program, or EAP, is to help workers that might be experiencing either a personal or work-related problem gain access to valuable counseling services.  Companies recognize that all employees can experience problems from time to time and that these problems can affect performance both on and off the job.  By providing access to qualified counselors employers benefit in three ways:

• Counseling can eliminate distractions that keep employees from reaching their full potential.
• Losing an employee because of personal problems costs employers money both in terms of the cost to hire a replacement as well as the investment they have in existing employees.
• Finally, running a good assistance program demonstrates to employees that they are valued by their employers.

Typical Components of an EAP

We're going to make some generalizations when describing the types of plans offered in EAPs, realizing that large companies can afford to offer employees a wider range of programs.  In fact, EAPs and the services of those programs can also be extended to family members of employees.  That being said an EAP might include help with:

• Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
• Abusive Households
• Career Planning / Financial Advice
• Outplacement Services / Resume Writing / Interviewing Skills
• Housing / Relocation Services
• Retirement Planning
• Health Care / Mental Health Care
• Child / Elder Care
• Legal Aid / Advice
• Grief / Loss of Loved Ones
• Workplace Stress

Companies typically allow counseling and other forms of help to occur during normal work hours and / or evenings.  Counselors are usually skilled workers that are trained in helping employees solve their problems.  Counselor may also refer employees to trained professionals or volunteers in local communities that can help employees solve their problems.

Cost of Programs to Employees

To encourage those in need of help to participate in these programs, employers normally offer these services free of charge to full-time employees.  Employers often place restrictions on the number of sessions that can be held with counselors before fees are charged.  The cost of referrals to other professionals is usually covered under the benefits of more formal health care programs.

Prior to scheduling a meeting with a counselor, the employer usually requires the employee to contact the program's administrator - which is frequently an employee in the company's human resources department.  This in-house registration, while necessary from a controls standpoint, raises the issue of confidentiality among participating employees.

Confidentiality of Information

If an EAP is to be successful, employees must have every reason to believe that the information shared as part of the program will be confidential.  This means that all private and personal information shared with counselors will not be shared with anyone outside of the program.

In the event that a referral to the EAP comes from an employee's supervisor or manager and also involves discipline related to the employee's on-the-job performance, the information concerning the employee's performance should not be divulged to counselors.

There is certain information that might need to be disclosed under the mandate of state law.  Most of the time these disclosures involve circumstances where someone might be in imminent danger, for example in cases of:

• Child or elder abuse
• Threats of suicide or homicide

For this very reason, the EAP policy statement needs to be very clear on the sharing of information and the legal obligation for such disclosures.

Structuring an Employee Assistance Program

There is a lot of variation in the structure of these plans.  In most instances EAPs are structured in one of four ways - depending on the size of the company offering the program:

• Internal Programs - in this structure, organizations utilize full-time internal staff members to staff their EAP.  While referrals may be made to off-site agencies and locations, the EAP's central office is usually located on-site.  This model is commonly used in larger organizations that can achieve the economies of scale necessary to make this model cost-effective.
• External Services - companies can also contract with an external provider of EAP services.  These vendors can provide either on-site or off-site locations that are used by multiple firms.
• Integrated Systems - with an integrated system of EAPs you have a centrally located internal EAP group that manages contracts with external services providers.  Some companies also combine this type of service with an employee's managed care / behavioral health care benefits.
• Consortia - in this last EAP structure health care coalitions, trade associations, and other types of affinity groups join together to offer EAP benefits to their employees.  With a consortium, the costs to run the program are shared among the membership - thereby making these traditionally "big company" benefits available to smaller businesses.

EAP Policy Statement

So what exactly does an EAP policy statement look like?  We're going to provide an example, but please keep in mind that the statement needs to be tailored to the individual components of a given plan.

Example Statement

XYZ Company's Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is designed to assist our employees with personal challenges that make affect their on the job performance.  These challenges may fall into many types including: drug and alcohol abuse, legal, marital, relocation, grief, abusive households, financial, childcare, eldercare and outplacement services.

Our company believes that all employees face serious problems at one time or another in their lives and it's important to help provide help during those times.  Our EAP is structured to provide access to quality service providers that can provide the proper care when it's needed.

If you're struggling, we encourage you to seek the help of our EAP and our promise is that any referral for treatment will be kept confidential within the bounds of the law.

Participation in this plan is voluntary and will never threaten the employee's chances of future employment or promotion.  All contact, participation and treatment will remain confidential and will not be shared with Company XYZ.

All services provided within the EAP will be available to employees free of charge.  The cost of long-term treatment or rehabilitation services is provided as defined under our mental and health care insurance plans.

About the Author - Employee Assistance Programs

Copyright © 2007 Money-Zine.com