Your employees have a lot on their minds. In addition to more work and stress caused by a reduced work force and fewer resources in many companies, your employees could be facing personal problems you don’t even know about — marital and family issues, bankruptcy and addictions, just to name a few.
All of these issues can affect their job performance and conduct at work, resulting in decreased productivity, high rates of absenteeism and on-the-job accidents.
As an employer, you can’t solve your employees’ personal problems, but offering an employee assistance program can help minimize the impact of those problems on work performance and return your employees to full productivity, says Marty Hauser, president of SummaCare, Inc.
Smart Business spoke with Hauser about how giving employees access to an employee assistance program can increase productivity, decrease the number of accidents and lead to happier, healthier employees.
What is an employee assistance program?
An employee assistance program (EAP) is a workplace-based program offered alongside health insurance benefits and is designed to help employees address issues they may be facing in their personal lives. These issues can include bankruptcy, the death of a loved one, drug abuse, alcoholism, divorce and gambling addictions, and each can impact an employee’s performance and, ultimately, if not dealt with, a company’s bottom line.
An EAP is typically offered to both employees and their family members at no cost to them. The process generally consists of an assessment of the problem by a licensed professional, short-term counseling — usually over the phone but in some instances in person — and referral services, with the goal of restoring employees to full productivity.
Services are available 24 hours a day, and any interaction with the EAP is confidential, although information can be disclosed to an employer with a written release from the employee. Generally, the employee decides to engage the services of the EAP, but an employer can refer the employee to the service as a result of behavioral problems at work.
What is the return on investment for a company offering an EAP?
Because employee use of EAPs is confidential, for a long time, ROI was purely anecdotal, with EAPs citing inspirational stories about employees who turned their lives around. But recent studies have provided more solid data, showing that for every dollar spent, companies average a return of between $5 and $14.
Employee assistance programs are generally considered to be an employee benefit, as employers bear the full cost of the program, but employers also benefit, getting a return on that investment through increased productivity, fewer sick days taken, a decrease in the number of health insurance and workers’ compensation claims, less workplace violence and a decrease in the number of accidents on the job.
And beginning this year, companies may begin seeing an even greater return on investment as a result of the Federal Mental Health Parity Act, which went into effect on January 1. The act says that insurance plans covering more than 50 people can no longer place a cap on mental health benefits unless the same caps are applied to medical benefits. As a result, many employers fear that the cost of mental health benefits could skyrocket. An EAP can help manage those costs by acting as a supplement to an employer’s insurance plan, helping employees resolve issues before the situation escalates to the point where they are accessing their mental health benefits. But even if the EAP can’t help the employee find a resolution, it can still help match that person with the most appropriate mental health services, saving the time and expense of shopping around, especially because finding the right service the first time can add up to significant savings for a company.
