The benefits of Employee Assistance Programmes

When Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) first appeared, the emphasis was on counselling for emotional problems. Now, EAPs have broadened to include “signposting” assistance, such as helping staff with childcare and eldercare difficulties and assisting with legal problems. The provision of an EAP can result in a real win-win situation, with significant benefits to both employers and employees.

Right outcome, wrong reasons

EAPs first started to appear in the UK in the early 1980s but were, over the next 20 years, implemented by only a small minority of employers. Then stress hit the headlines and EAPs were given a major boost by a landmark legal case. In Sutherland v Hatton, the Court of Appeal laid down some important guidelines, including one stating that employers that offer a counselling service with access to treatment will rarely be held to be in breach of their duty of care to employees — which is the principle underlying the liability of employer organisations for claims relating to work-related stress. Although this has resulted in a fresh burst of interest in EAPs, employers should really be looking at them from a far wider perspective, since they are far from just being a form of insurance against stress claims and actually offer other benefits that are arguably much more significant. In fact, figures from the US show that the use of EAPs returns $7 for every $1 invested and UK employers have reported savings of between £6 and £10 for every £1 spent. There are several ways in which such savings are achieved.

The tangible — and intangible — benefits

To begin with, EAPs help to reduce the amount and, therefore, the cost of absenteeism. Organisations with a counselling service have 2.6 days less absence per employee per year. Although this may reflect the fact that such employers are more caring in a number of ways (which may also contribute to these lower figures), a CBI survey into causes of absenteeism has established that the provision of counselling has the most valuable impact.
Counselling can help not only with cases of stress but also with other emotional problems, some of which may lead — if untreated — to stress. Others may simply have an adverse effect on concentration, motivation and performance. Such problems may embrace not only those whose causes, such as bullying or change management, are directly work-related, but also personal problems ranging from alcohol and drug dependency to bereavement and relationship difficulties.

Furthermore, these days EAPs go beyond emotional problems and, additionally, help employees with a whole range of practical concerns, including:

1. problems faced by carers, ranging from childcare to care for disabled dependents and elderly relatives
   financial matters such as debt counselling and advice on mortgages, pensions, state benefits and taxation
2. legal issues, including consumer rights, matrimonial law, neighbour disputes and probate and traffic offences.
   

The initial knee-jerk reaction may be to ask why employers should spend money helping staff with such matters. The simple answer is that it is cost effective to do so. To take just one example, an employee who needs to identify appropriate childcare or eldercare facilities has to do an enormous amount of phoning round — 16 hours on average, of which about 80% may have to be done during working hours. Multiplied by the number of employees who may have such problems, this costs the employer a significant amount of money in lost time. The specialist expertise and databases of EAP providers, on the other hand, can result in the whole problem being dealt with in just one telephone call.

Not only does this save time and, therefore, money but it also means that members of staff are spared the distress that often accompanies the need, for instance, to deal with a problem such as arranging care for a parent who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or the worry of finding a reliable child carer. Emotional distractions of this kind can have a noticeable impact on employees’ performance in their jobs.

However, it is not just a question of saving time and money. Providing an EAP is also one more way in which employers can show that they really do care about their employees, and caring employers find it easier to attract and retain staff.

It is this broadening of the scope of EAPs, with its accompanying need for information databases and advisors who are specialists in their field of knowledge, that has led to the growth of dedicated EAP providers. However, this is not the only reason that they tend to be the preferred means of providing help, rather than — for example — employers either providing an in-house counselling service or referring staff to outside information or counselling organisations, such as Citizens Advice Bureaux or pastoral counselling services.

In addition to being a “one-stop shop”, EAP providers can be available on a 24/7 basis, which is not the case with either in-house services or other external alternatives. Then there is the question of confidentiality, which may deter employees from using in-house counselling services, whereas this worry is far less likely to discourage them from using an external source. Finally, there is the expertise specialist providers have in communicating the value of their services to members of staff, which both encourages take up of such schemes — thereby ensuring that both employees and employers really do achieve the benefits — and maximises the goodwill benefit to the organisation. Some EAP providers even go so far as to distribute information to all staff at regular intervals on subjects like managing stress, work-life balance, personal financial management and — at school holiday periods — childcare promotions listing available local activities and contacts.

EAP providers charge on the basis of the number of staff employed by the organisation. Annual costs vary between £10–£25 per head (depending on factors such as the range of information and counselling covered); whether it is confined to assistance by telephone or whether face-to-face counselling is also available and whether the service is available to employees’ families or only to members of staff.

In choosing a provider, employers should consider not only these factors — rather than just the price — but should also check out the qualifications and experience of the advisors and counsellors who will be dealing with calls. It is important, too, to ensure that employees who use the service will not experience the negative reactions people so often go through when phoning a typical call centre. This is particularly crucial with regard to employees with emotional problems, given that it may have been difficult for them to make that initial telephone call.
Employers should also ask the EAP provider to give them a dedicated account manager and check what information they will receive on how staff use the service. Although details of individual calls must obviously be completely confidential, EAP providers should provide a clear analysis of usage of the service and of the kinds of problems being raised, highlighting areas requiring action — which might, for instance, include bullying, stress or sexual harassment.
Finally, if they are to get the full value out of Employment Assistance Programmes, employers must take steps to ensure that such action really is taken and that its effectiveness is properly monitored.

Croner Consulting 3.09.04