Employee Assistance Programs

Employee assistance programs (EAPs) are a benefit provided by employers to give employees access to confidential assistance to address personal issues, preferably before they affect job performance. When personal problems do affect job performance, EAPs may coach supervisors to effectively support employees as they address those problems, seek and receive counseling or treatment, and return to work.

Employers increasingly turned to EAPs in the 1970s to help employees cope with problems that were adversely affecting job performance and/or conduct. Performance-based interventions to address the individual and organizational costs of substance abuse were widely adopted. Gradually, the EAP's role has expanded to include a variety of support services, including counseling in most work/life issues, as well as conflict and crisis management. Most EAP programs also provide services to the members of the employee's household.

Studies have documented that reduced productivity, increased accidents, increased absenteeism, and increased health care expenditures that result from workplace stress cost U.S. businesses approximately $300 billion annually. The most often cited causes of employee stress are personal, not work related; however, the impact of these issues in the workplace is undeniable. Employers responded to these findings by developing programs to help employees deal with work/life stress. According to the Society for Human Resource Management 2004 Benefits Survey Report, 70% of all U.S. employers offer an EAP.

EAPs may vary considerably in design and scope. Some programs focus primarily on substance abuse problems, while others take an across-the-board approach to a range of individual and family problems. EAPs may include proactive prevention and health and wellness activities, as well as problem identification and referral, and some are directly linked to the organization's employee health benefit plan.

EAPs may be administered internally or externally. An internal EAP is managed directly by individuals who are employed by the company the program serves. The advantage of the internal EAP is that the program can be specifically tailored to meet the needs of the company; however, it may be more difficult to engender the employee confidence in the competence and trustworthiness of internal EAP staff that is critical to the program's success. In addition, internal EAP staff may be challenged to determine if the employee or the employer is the client to whom they have the greater responsibility.

With this in mind, external EAPs have increasingly become the preferred model. An external EAP uses outside counselors who provide services on a contractual basis. EAP contracts may be established for a fixed fee based on the number of employees, regardless of program usage, or on a fee-for-service basis, with the employer paying only for the services that are used. External EAPs tend to have enhanced confidentiality, a broader variety of available services, greater convenience, and lower overall program costs.

In addition to being the right thing to do, employers may realize significant tangible and intangible benefits from providing EAPs to employees. Studies have shown that employers may realize a return of $5 to $16 for every $1 invested in an EAP, resulting from reductions in absenteeism, tardiness, workplace accidents, and insurance claims. Intangible benefits include improvements in employee work quality, motivation, commitment, loyalty, and morale that result from a strengthening of the psychological contract between employer and employee.

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