Ensuring the happiness of employees at the workplace is one of the crucial responsibilities of any employer. When employees are happy, it can create productive and positive work environments, permitting all to thrive in the process of working together towards a common objective.
Unfortunately, many times, personal problems cause employees not to deliver their best at work. This can lead to a substantial decline in focus and productivity and cause a negative influence on the rest of the team.
To address such issues, more and more employers are considering the advantages of Employee Assistance Programs to keep teams happy and healthy.
Definition
An EAP (Employee Assistance Program) is a wellness program for the workplace, created to boost the performance of employees, aiding them to resolve personal issues. Such programs provide short-term and confidential support to help with a variety of issues such as mental, physical, legal, and financial.
Though the main focus of EAP is mental health counselling, they offer support to employees in areas like elderly care, child care, pet care, buying a first home etc. Such benefits extend to extended family, spouse, and dependants of each employee.
Studies reveal that workplace stress is rising at an alarming rate. On-going stress causes apathy and exhaustion, often leading to psychological burn-out and loss of productivity. This can be prevented by EAP by offering employees crucial support before such issues snowball into a catastrophe or crisis.
Role
EAP helps employees with personal/work-related problems which impact their emotional and mental well-being along with health and job performance. EAPs typically provide confidential and free assessments, referrals, short-term counselling as well as follow-up services for staff.
EAP counsellors also work in consultative roles with supervisors and managers for addressing organizational and employee-related challenges. Many academic institutions, corporations, and government agencies are active in helping organizations deal with workplace trauma, violence, and other stressful situations. EAPs have grown in popularity over the years and are desirable socially and economically.
Employees and their families can use EAPs to manage personal issues. Such issues include: occupational stress, substance abuse, emotional distress, prominent life events (deaths, births, accidents), financial or legal concerns, health care concerns, personal/ family relationship issues, worry about aged parents, and workplace related issues.
Benefits
Following are the major benefits of workplace EAPs:
- Increased productivity
When employees are distracted by personal issues, there is a loss of creativity and motivation. To cope with the latter, they may take more sick days. Such absenteeism has serious consequences for the productivity of the company. A report by Society for Human Resource Management attributes the loss of 36.6% of company productivity to employee absences. But EAP has been found to turn this around- sick leaves reduced by 33%, loss of time by 40%, and accidents at the workplace by 65%. - Affordability
EAPs are surprisingly affordable and range from $40 to $60 per employee per year. This amounts to less than 1% of what the average employer spends on annual health insurance for employees. - Saves money
As per some studies conducted in Canada, mental health issues can cost employers an astounding $20 billion per year and account for 75% of short-term disability claims. But as per reports by Morneau Shepell, EAPs offer an excellent return on investment; every dollar spent generates 8 times the return. By investing in EAP, it can lead to reduced costs for health care, lower usage of medical insurance, fewer absences, and less disability claims. - A positive environment at work
The complete workforce is impacted by problems like health problems, decreased performance, and absenteeism. Also, if an employee is suffering from high levels of stress, he will become less communicative and more argumentative as well as defensive at the workplace.
EAPs can help troubled employees by offering support as well as a confidential means to vent their issues. This results in employees experiencing an enhancement in controlling stress levels, which will impact the whole team. - More employee retention
Most employees stay loyal to a company not only where the workplace has a positive environment but also when employees have good relationships with their co-workers. Hence, EAPs keep employees productive and happy at their jobs.
In fact, a survey by the American Health Association revealed that 51% of employees stay loyal to their jobs because of great relationships with co-workers. EAP’s help in keeping employees productive, active, and happy at their workplaces.
Additionally, EAPs are particularly attractive for the millennial workforce, helping in their attraction and retention. Typically, millennials are less likely to seek help for mental issues and are hence likely to appreciate a confidential and free EAP.
In sum, the financial and psychological costs of mental health issues and stress are heavily impacting Australian businesses. Currently, more than ever, employers have a responsibility to support employees and contribute to their well-being. Do not hesitate to use Employee Assistance Programs. It costs a pittance to implement and offers substantial gains for employees while boosting the bottom-line of the company.
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