The business case for EAPs

An employee assistance programme (EAP) can provide many potential benefits to an employer. There is only limited evidence to support these arguments, however. Points 1-14 in our checklist have some evidence to back them up. See the footnote for the sources of this evidence. There is little or no evidence at present to support the arguments covered by points 15-21.

Some evidence exists for benefits 1-14:
1. Employer liability: providing an EAP can help to show that the employer is meeting its legal duty of care towards its employees, particularly in respect of stress at work. However, this protection against legal liability has recently been significantly reduced by a Court of Appeal judgment.

2. Valuable feedback: the management reports supplied by the employer's EAP provider help the employer to identify and address problems, such as bullying and harassment, and target interventions in order to improve workforce health and morale. These interventions can help meet the employer's legal duty of care towards its employees, tackle the causes of some absences and improve morale.

3. Absences: an EAP can contribute to the employer's efforts to control or reduce absence levels, both the duration of individual absences and their total number. Timekeeping may also improve.

4. Stress: the emotional support provided by EAP counsellors can play an important role in helping individuals manage their stress levels.

5. Performance and productivity: the services provided by an EAP can help individuals cope with pressures, worries and stress, to the benefit of their performance and productivity at work.

6. Change management: employees and managers are more likely to cooperate with changes at work if they have access to the confidential, impartial support of an EAP.

7. A resource for line managers: an EAP can provide line managers with information, advice and support to help them manage difficult issues and difficult employees, thereby improving their effectiveness as people managers.

8. Rehabilitation: an EAP can help an employee on long-term sick leave return to work and provide support after they come back.

9. Labour turnover: an EAP can support employees during difficult times; it can also show that individuals work for a caring employer. Both considerations can help to reduce resignation levels.

10. Emergencies and traumatic incidents: most EAP helplines are open 24 hours a day and are potentially good sources of support, information and advice for individuals during an emergency. The availability of immediate assistance could help to reduce the risk of post-traumatic stress syndrome.

11. Health and wellbeing: an EAP can help an employer meet its aspirations to improve the health and wellbeing of its employees.

12. An integrated approach: the availability of an EAP allows an employer to integrate its services with relevant internal policies and practices, such as bullying, harassment, stress, absence and capability/performance. This integration could help to strengthen the employer's practices in these areas and produce better results.

13. Supporting HR staff: busy HR departments can refer employees and managers in appropriate circumstances to the services of their organisation's EAP as a means of reducing HR's workload.

14. Occupational health referrals: access to an EAP can reduce the number of referrals to occupational health specialists made by employers in respect of their staff.

Little or no evidence exists for potential benefits 15-21:
15. Referrals by line managers: an EAP can provide line managers with a resource to which they can refer members of their teams, particularly in respect of problems that line managers are unable to handle effectively themselves.

16. Smoking cessation: an EAP can offer support with smoking cessation, an increasingly important aspect of employers' policies and legal duties now that smoking in enclosed public is unlawful from 1 July 2007.

17. Drug and alcohol abuse: EAPs are heavily used in the US to help employees who abuse drugs or alcohol. They could play a similar role in the UK.

18. Morale: the provision of an EAP can help show employees that their organisation wants to support its staff and act as a caring employer. This knowledge could help improve morale and motivation generally.

19. Timely counselling: there are often considerable waiting times for NHS counselling services, so the provision of an EAP can give employees fast access to such assistance. This could help them cope with common mental health problems, such as stress, more quickly and easily, which is to their and their employer's mutual benefit.

20. Interpersonal conflicts: access to telephone and face-to-face counselling can help individuals resolve interpersonal conflicts, such as with their line managers or colleagues. EAPs usually also offer legal advice so that enquirers can understand their rights in conflicts that involve bullying, harassment or discrimination, for example.

21. Customer care: access to an EAP can improve an individual's self-esteem and morale, and remove distractions that could impede the standard of customer care they provide at work.

Sources of research evidence that support items 1-14 above:

IRS research into employee assistance programmes, February and March 2007, as reported in this feature and in Employee assistance programmes: the main IRS report.

Counselling in the Workplace: the Facts - a Systematic Study of the Research Evidence, John McLeod, British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, 2001

An Assessment of Employee Assistance and Workplace Counselling Programmes in British Organisations J Carolyn Highley-Marchington and Cary L Cooper, HSE Books, 1998.

"Workplace counselling: who is the consumer?" Kevin Friery, Counselling at Work, Autumn 2006, pp.24-26.

"Workplace counselling and the duty of care: what next?" Peter Jenkins, Counselling at Work, Summer 2006, pp.16-19.

ICAS Absence Survey 2006

"Return on investment", Right Corecare