Part 1: What are EAP’s?

By Patrick Gaul

The Employee Assistance (EAP) industry is plagued by inconsistencies.  I speak with HR professionals for a living and each one has a different opinion of EAP.  They range from not knowing what one is to believing that a high quality EAP is one of the most valuable tools they have access to. 

The Employee Assistance Society of North America (EASNA) is a professional society for the EAP industry.  They have created a special report titled, “Selecting and Strengthening Employee Assistance Programs: A PURCHASER’S GUIDE.”  This guide is a necessity for any organization that utilizes, or is considering purchasing, an EAP.  Click on the title / hyperlink or the photo above to be redirected to the EASNA website to download your copy.  This guide is jam packed with enough information for a series of blog conversations.

The first conversation is simple. 

What is an EAP?

According to the EASNA Purchaser’s Guide, an Employee Assistance Program is:

“…a worksite-based program designed to assist in the identification and resolution of work-related and non-work-related productivity problems associated with employees impaired by personal concerns including but not limited to health, marital, family, financial, alcohol, drug, legal, emotional, or other personal concerns which may adversely affect employee job performance.”

That sounds useful, but how do EAPs accomplish this?  The report goes on to say:

“The specific core activities of EAPs include:

(1)   services for individuals (such as identification and resolution of job-performance issues related to an employee’s personal concerns, and assessment, referral, and follow-up)

(2)   services for managers and supervisors (such as assistance in referring employees to the EAP, supervisor training, and management consulting)

(3)   services for organizations (such as violence prevention/crisis management, group interventions, and employee orientation)

(4)   administrative services (such as the development of EAP policies and procedures, outreach, evaluation and referral resources development).

A definition is helpful, but unfortunately, a definition can sometimes encourage commoditization of a product.  A definition does not address effectiveness.  Many businesses have used this to their advantage.  This includes businesses selling a variety of products to other businesses (like insurance, payroll, etc), EAP consumers and even some EAPs. 

Commodity and Confidentiality 

EAPs are especially prone to becoming a commodity because of the confidential nature of this business.  How effective were we?  “We can’t tell you who we helped because it’s confidential.” 

Many businesses realized they could take advantage of the commoditization of the EAP by offering a program that meets the above definition, building the cost into their existing business, and then present it as a “free” service. 

They calculated their customers (or their competitors’ customers) would spend “X” percent more if their product included an EAP, thereby (in theory) saving them 3 times “X” percent by terminating their legitimate EAP. The business-to-business vendor gets another hook in their customer and higher rates.  The customer has a net cost that is lower and has one less vendor to deal with.  AND, they can still say, “Of course we offer an EAP, we are an employer of choice!” So, it’s a win-win situation, right? Hmmm…maybe not. 

Do you hear complaints about the new, ineffective EAP? 

How many people will actually go to the HR Director, or CEO for that matter, and complain that the benefit they utilized to help them kick their addiction was no good.  In this example, I’m reinforcing a stereotype about EAPs being just for drug and alcohol addiction. 

So OK, let’s try another scenario.  “Hey boss, I’m trying to avoid bankruptcy, so I called the EAP for help and they…” or “Hey boss, you are stressing me out so bad that I’ve developed an ulcer.  I wanted to avoid medication and learn to deal with the stress, but the EAP…so I just refilled my prescription.”  

The bottom line is this:  EAPs must be confidential to be utilized because we help with issues that are personal.  The confidentiality can often mean that people don’t talk about it.  The truth is that you will know an effective EAP when you have one, but you might not know an ineffective EAP if you have one.  No news is not necessarily good news when it comes to feedback about your company’s EAP. 

So how do you know if your EAP is effective?

EASNA says highly effective EAPs:

 “…provide strategic analysis, recommendations, and consultation throughout an organization to enhance its performance, culture and business success.  These enhancements are accomplished by professionally trained behavioral and/or psychological experts who apply the principles of human behavior with management, employees and their families as well as workplace situations to optimize the organization’s human capital.” 

Now that you know what an EAP is, how do you make sure the EAP you are looking at will be effective?  Come back to Interact@Ease for the second part of this series, where we will explore Section Two of the EASNA EAP Purchaser’s Guide titled, “How to Select an EAP.”