What Is an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) & How Does It Work?

An employee assistance program (EAP) is a service provided by an employer to assist employees in dealing with personal problems that threaten their productivity. EAPs are designed as confidential services for current and former employees and also for their family members, friends, or others who may provide help of some kind.

An “employee assistance program” is a type of employee benefit that’s designed to provide support and services for employees who are experiencing personal or work-related issues. It can be used by anyone in the company, including managers. Read more in detail here: examples of employee assistance programs.

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are a confidential workplace program that is paid for by businesses and provided to workers for free. An EAP is one of the most underappreciated, but crucial, perks provided by employers of all sizes. Employee assistance programs (EAPs) help workers deal with a variety of life difficulties. An employee assistance program (EAP) may help people remain focused on their responsibilities at work, maintain high productivity and performance, and really enhance their well-being in the process.

What Employers Should Know About COVID-19 and EAP

Employers seeking to remain involved with and better assist their workers have resorted to an EAP as a result of COVID-19, which has touched every business in the United States. We want to make sure you have all you need to help your teammates (also note that each of these resources is commonly offered within EAP benefit services).

The International Employee Assistance Professionals Association is an excellent resource for learning more about how an EAP is assisting clients with the COVID-19 situation (EAPA). There is a wealth of good material aimed for EAP practitioners, but company owners and supervisors may also benefit from this resource.

COVID-19 has had an influence on an EAP, how it is handled, and how businesses use it, according to the Journal of Employee Assistance. It also assists workers in getting the most out of their EAP.

Employers may get answers to legal issues concerning managing workers and how the COVID-19 situation has affected the workplace in a variety of Q&As on Benefits Pro.

COVID-19 hotlines are available in each state and may be helpful tools for workers. Most EAPs provide additional tools, like as this hotline, to assist employers in dealing with COVID-19-related issues.

Two excellent materials are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The first is intended to help businesses navigate the COVID-19 situation in general. The “Share Facts About COVID-19” booklet, which businesses may share with their team members, is the second resource focused on communicating with workers.

EAPs and How They Work (Plus A Sample EAP Policy)

An EAP connects workers and their families with outside counselors, services, and referrals. Employees’ or their family members’ EAP benefits are kept private. This implies that, although the company pays for the service, they have no knowledge of how an employee uses it.

Although their services are diverse, most EAPs handle mental health, stress, depression, drug misuse, financial worries, family issues, well-being, and legal challenges directly or indirectly. EAP services have specialists on staff who can help consumers right away and also know how to send them to other professionals for longer-term assistance.

Employers have no way of knowing who is using the service, why they are using it, or how often their workers call. There is total confidentiality between the third-party EAP provider and the employee due to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (or HIPPA) laws (which we will discuss later).

All EAPs give a defined number of counseling referral sessions at no cost to the employee, often one to three, to properly examine the problem before suggesting a resource, therapist, or service. Although most EAPs do not provide long-term therapy, they may assist employees in finding options that are meant to be long-term solutions.

For your employee handbook, below is an example EAP policy: Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat PDF

EAPs Offer a Variety of Services

When you provide an EAP, an employee who is in need may contact the EAP toll-free phone number (or go to the EAP website) to obtain instant support from a trained counselor on issues such as:

• Workplace personality conflicts: Tips and advice on how to deal with a demanding boss or coworkers.
• Drug addiction: Counseling on how to cope with an employee’s addiction or a family member’s addiction, as well as adolescent drug use prevention.
• Depression, anxiety, anger management, or other mental health concerns that an employee or their family members may be experiencing.
• How to effectively handle return to work concerns following a worker’s compensation claim, or how to manage a handicap or medical difficulty at work, or how to get aid for a sick or aging loved one are all health and caregiving issues.
• Marriage therapy, divorce, or child custody disputes are all examples of legal and family guidance.
• Financial counseling may help you avoid bankruptcy, pay off credit card debt, and set up a budget.
• Grief support: For workers who have lost a loved one, as well as for those who have lost a coworker or have experienced a catastrophic incident at work, such as a shooting, grief support is available.

When issues like anxiety, depression, family problems, or drug abuse go untreated in the workplace, they can lead to poor performance, missed work, low employee retention, inconsistent customer service, and even increased workplace injuries, which can cost your company money in terms of disability and workers’ compensation.

Understanding the Evolution of EAPs

To begin, keep in mind that EAPs have been for more than 50 years, and what was deemed innovative in the 1980s is no longer the case. If your company has five or more workers, you should consider an EAP benefit. Currently, 77 percent of firms in the United States provide an EAP to their workers.

The number of firms using EAPs is over 97 percent for organizations with more than 5,000 workers, according to the more extensive breakdown. EAPs are available to workers at 80 percent of organizations with 1,000 to 5,000 employees and 75 percent of companies with 251 to 1,000 employees.

EAP use continues to rise, indicating that more firms are providing this service to their workers (both within the US and globally). Despite the fact that this trend is gaining traction, smaller US firms with less than 25 workers are less likely to provide an EAP. This is owing to the fact that smaller businesses without an HR department are unaware of EAP services as a perk or are unsure how to put one up. Overall, the United States has the world’s biggest EAP market.

Chestnut Global Partners is the source of this information.

Chestnut Global Partners is the source of this information.

EAP Referrals Come in a Variety of Forms

Employees may begin utilizing the company’s EAP services in a number of ways once an EAP program is in place. The most popular methods for obtaining EAP services are listed below.

Independent Search/Self-referral

Employees or family members may reach out to the EAP directly via phone or through the EAP’s website.

Referral from a friend

A coworker, friend, or family member refers the employee to the EAP and provides instructions (or contact information) on how to contact the EAP.

Referral in writing

A supervisor, manager, or HR professional suggests the EAP service to an employee based on their observations. Referrals are often linked to performance reviews, overall performance, a progressive disciplinary procedure, or other legal issues outlined by the company.

Requirements for EAP Benefits

A full-service EAP is meant to provide workers with the support they need to deal with a variety of challenges so they can stay on the job and be productive. A complete program should offer a set of comprehensive, integrated EAP services to the company and its workers that match organizational requirements (which includes the employer, their employees, and dependents).

Regardless of the vendor model your firm employs, all EAPs have a set of universally agreed-upon standards embedded into their program. All EAPs must have written policies that address consistency in service and program offerings, customer confidentiality (including anonymity from the employer when employees are self-seeking services), and a sufficient support staff of trained employee assistance professionals who are available to support customers’ needs, according to the Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA) guidelines.

EAP policies that are written are useful for two reasons. First, it informs your workers about the services available so that they may participate in the program. Second, it helps businesses maintain consistency in the way they allow and distribute EAP benefits to their workers. Employees should not be confused by your EAP policy; instead, it should be worded clearly so that everyone understands what the benefit entails. On what the EAPA mandates all EAP programs to include, we concur with the Society for Human Resources Management’s (SHRM) stance.

The following are also included in the EAPA standards:

• Standard crisis intervention services are offered seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
• Employee assistance program (EAP) knowledge and processes for deciding when and how to recommend workers to EAP services.
• Leaders and supervisors of the company will get training so that they can spot problems and intervene by recommending people to their EAP.
• Professionals who retain professional competence and expertise are required to work for the EAP.
• The capacity to adapt to changing demands by introducing services that are requested in consumer surveys and are in line with industry trends.

The following are some of the other elements of a complete EAP program:

• Service delivery may be done in a variety of ways (that is, phone counseling should not be the only form of service available).
• Customer service and account management that is responsive.
• Support for legal and regulatory compliance.
• Expert-driven policy formulation in the form of templates that employers can easily edit and customize.
• Communication and training that is centered on the employees.
• Websites and advertising materials in many languages and cultures are available.
• Data reporting on industry trends, for example, might be customized.
• Quality local services (to the vast majority of the company’s workers) that are attentive to language, culture, and religion, especially during times of emergency when special advice and help may be necessary.
• The program’s cost is emphasized above the quality of services and simplicity of access.
• The website and online resources are available in a variety of languages and may be used by EAP clients who speak those languages (using common phrases, and plain word use for ease of understanding).

How do EAPs fit within the ERISA and COBRA frameworks?

Employee assistance programs (EAPs) that provide medical benefits such as direct counseling and treatment, rather than merely referrals for counseling and treatment, are governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and COBRA rules. The EAP is not considered a group health plan and is not subject to COBRA restrictions if it does not offer services directly but merely makes recommendations and assists workers in obtaining such treatments.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Employee Assistance Programs (HIPAA)

The HIPPA privacy regulation provides national standards for the protection of a person’s medical records and other sensitive health data. HIPAA-covered substance addiction treatment programs must adhere to the privacy requirement.

All health plans and health care providers who perform confidential transactions electronically are subject to the HIPPA regulation. The regulation establishes sufficient measures to protect the privacy of personal health information, as well as restrictions and conditions on the uses and disclosures of such information that may be made without patient consent. Patients’ rights over their own health information are also protected under the regulation, including the ability to see and acquire a copy of their data, as well as the ability to request corrections.

The Americans with Disabilities Act and Employee Assistance Programs

Employers have compelled that workers use EAP benefits on occasion. Mandatory EAP referrals from employers should be thoroughly understood before taking action. Mandatory referrals may be appropriate in cases where job performance has been adversely damaged due to drug misuse, threats of violence, or suicide. According to SHRM, recent case law has shown that formal EAP referrals impose legal obligations on employers under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Plaintiffs’ counsel have asserted that the employer who referred the employee to the EAP was aware that the employee had a handicap (whether it was accurate or not). It’s worth noting that these kinds of interpretations, whether transitory or not, and whether true or not, might become legally problematic if the employer decides to discipline the employee.

Models of EAP Delivery that are Frequently Used

Employers have a variety of alternatives when it comes to picking an employee assistance program (EAP). Employers may choose to keep the whole program in-house or outsource it entirely. Employers may also choose to outsource every element of the service to a third-party. The most frequent EAP delivery models are as follows:

Contracts with a set price

Employers will sign a service agreement for counseling, professional referrals, and supervisory training, among other services. The cost of this service is determined by the number of workers, regardless of whether or not they utilize the EAP. This is one of the most often used distribution methods.

Contracts based on a fee-for-service basis

An EAP provider is hired directly by the employer. In this instance, the employer usually only pays for what is actually utilized for the service.

EAPs funded by management

The majority, if not all, of these applications are created in-house. The employer engages a specialist in EAP delivery, or a team of experts. This is a frequent model used by extremely big companies.

Consortia

Small firms band together in this strategy to contract for third-party EAP services, cutting the cost per employee for each participating company. This approach is usually fixed-fee, which implies that all services included in a normal EAP are available. This is also advantageous since not all of the firms in a typical consortium need the same services. (It’s worth noting that consortia may be formed without any commonality between the employers in this group.)

Assistance Programs for Members

Unions and member support programs often offer this kind of service (MAPs).

Basic services are usually covered under this benefit, and clients who need longer-term care are usually referred. Typically, you must be a member of the union that is sponsoring the benefit, or the MAP, as the name implies.

Programs using a mix of models

Employers and unions with several work locations that have diverse requirements and resources use these programs, which might vary greatly from place to location in terms of staff size, needs of workers who use EAP services, and so on.

The Cost of Providing Employee Assistance Programs

The cost of providing an EAP benefit varies considerably. There are ordinary and “Cadillac” choices, like with other employee benefit packages. In general, an EAP benefit should cost between $12 to $50 per person each year, albeit the smaller the company, the higher the per-employee cost.

This range of EAP expenditures reflects less than one-third of one percent of the typical employer’s yearly per-employee spending on health benefits, according to Business Insurance, which measures benefits costs in the workplace (or insurance).

Larger organizations often pay a lower per-employee fee than smaller businesses, as shown in the figure below, which is based on EAP rates in Washington, D.C.

 Average Cost of Employee Assistance Program (EAP) by Employer Size

EAP Services are provided at no cost.

There are also several free sites available that provide free EAP services. We advise you to proceed with care while considering these choices, since you often get what you pay for in this industry. For example, your local college’s counseling education master’s or doctoral program may provide free EAP counseling, although counselors will most likely be graduate students. They may lack expertise dealing with more severe concerns such as drug addiction.

Customers generally criticize free EAP materials more than they promote them (employees). We’ve discovered that finding a low-cost EAP program that’s suited for your company and gradually expanding it is a better strategy.

Choosing the Right Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for Your Company

There are a lot of EAP providers to select from, so finding the appropriate one for you might be difficult. Shortlister is a benefits consulting organization that offers a list of the top 20 EAP providers in the US.

My Shortlister is the source of this information.

Another site we trust is SHRM’s EAP vendor directory, which covers a variety of EAP providers with a track record of providing quality services and products.

Also, most professional employer organizations (PEOs) provide EAP services as part of their programs. If you are not already connected with a PEO, this will be a significant undertaking, but we wanted to provide it as an option in case PEOs are of interest to you. If this is the case, we may recommend a provider that, via its PEO program, provides a strong EAP service. ADP Totalsource is an IRS-certified PEO that provides all of the typical PEO advantages, as well as a robust EAP platform for workers to use.

Take a look at ADP Totalsource

Finally, if you contact the International EAP Association, EAPA, a trade group for EAP providers, they may link you to a local EAP provider. 703-387-1000 is their phone number.

EAPs, like COVID-19 and how workers are coping with the challenges of working from home, child care, or illness, may help companies and their employees when social stress and anxiety is affecting everything around them.

It’s also worth noting that buying straight from an EAP provider isn’t always the greatest option. Others have had experience working with HR/benefits/payroll software or service companies who offer an EAP as part of a bigger benefits package.

Employers’ Perceptions of EAP Value

According to the Employee Assistance Trade Association (EASNA), the trade association for EAPs, the return on investment (ROI) for every dollar spent on an EAP is $3, making an EAP a prudent investment for all firms, big and small.

Some organizations wait until a catastrophic event occurs, such as a workplace fatality, a corporate buy-out, or even a weather-related calamity, such as a flood or tornado, before providing an EAP to their workers. Although we recognize that an EAP may not be at the top of a decision-priority maker’s list, we strongly urge decision-makers to use EAPs to benefit their team members. Employees often seek EAP services as a result of everyday concerns, rather than a major incident such as a natural catastrophe or a workplace fatality.

Many organizations are taking a more proactive approach, realizing that personal concerns may infiltrate the workplace and have a detrimental influence on employee productivity and quality of life. According to EASNA, one out of every four people has an untreated mental illness, and one out of every eight has an addiction issue. These subtle, sometimes overlooked concerns may have an influence on an employee’s productivity, team cohesiveness, and general well-being, as well as those with whom he or she works. Offering an EAP benefit prevents many of these difficulties from harming employee productivity and may also help employers avoid turnover, which costs them thousands of dollars each year.

Employee Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) After Providing Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)

If you don’t explain how an EAP works, it won’t be of much use to you or your staff. You’ll need to offer training to explain what an EAP program is, how it works, and how they can use it independently.

The most common worry among workers is that you will find out what they speak to the counselor about, or that they will lose their job if you discover they have a mental health or addiction issue.

Employees may have a lot of questions once your EAP is up and running. It may take multiple guarantees to persuade them to put their faith in the EAP program. Here are some of the most frequent questions they may ask, as well as some example replies.

QUESTION: Is the EAP benefit kept private?

ANSWER: Of course. At no point is any employee-specific information shared with the employer.

QUESTION: How can I be sure it’s private?

ANSWER: Counselors must preserve strict confidentiality. Our third-party vendor is prohibited by law from releasing any personal information related to any service delivered.

QUESTION: Is there any cost associated with this benefit?

ANSWER: No, all EAP counseling and referral services are provided free of charge to all workers. It’s important to note that services taken after the EAP referral may be costly.

QUESTION: Will the EAP program disclose concerns like drug addiction to you [employer]?

ANSWER: Yes, but only in aggregate. They will not reveal identities, just portions of the service used, so that the employer may choose whether to pay more for sophisticated services in one area or another. The employer has no way of knowing who has used the EAP program or how many times any one employee has used it.

QUESTION: Do I have to utilize EAP services if my boss recommends them?

ANSWER: No, however since managers lack counseling experience, they may suggest you to get professional therapy. Also, if your supervisory referral procedure includes performance difficulties or sanctions, your employer may force you to seek EAP treatments or services outside of your EAP in order to keep your job. However, the employer will never be informed of the results, interactions with physicians, or kind of therapy received.

QUESTION: How can I get in touch with the EAP?

ANSWER: Include the EAP’s phone number as well as its website. Many EAPs have business cards that should be distributed via HR and posted across the workplace.

Employees in small businesses may find it difficult to believe that the EAP is private. That’s because the EAP will usually provide the employer a report with demographic information like the number of workers seeking assistance, the kind of services they’re looking for (financial, legal, mental health), their state, and their job level (staff, manager, executive).

This data worry isn’t a problem for a huge company since numbers provide safety or anonymity. When there is a high level of trust between leadership and workers across the business, EAPs are most effective.

Conclusion

An employee assistance program (EAP) is a fantastic perk that pays for itself by keeping employee wellbeing in control. It’s also worth noting that it’s one of the most underutilized perks in businesses. Overall, EAPs can help employees in almost every aspect of their life and can help you save money on workers’ compensation and attrition.

Employee assistance programs (EAPs) are a service that many workers may value but may never ask for if you do not provide them first. When you provide an EAP benefit to your workers, make sure you explain the program’s confidentially and advantages to them so they can take use of all of its features.

An “employee assistance program mental health” is a type of confidential support that employers can offer to employees. The purpose of an EAP is to provide employees with the resources they need to cope with mental health issues.

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