Your Company & EAP
How can an EAP help our company?
An EAP can help in many ways, including:
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Manage behavioral health care costs, especially for self-insured employers
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Review and consultation regarding relevant employer policies, including alcohol and other drug abuse policies
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Reduce employee absenteeism
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Prevent accidents and abuse of sick leave
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Increase supervisor effectiveness by providing objective management consultation
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Enhance employee morale and productivity
Why do employers and employees need EAPs?
Every employer is aware that employees’ productivity can be impacted by matters outside of the employer’s direct control. Whether the cause is marital strife, financial distress, drug or alcohol abuse, mental/physical illness, demands of parenting, or care giving of elderly loved ones, our personal lives impact our work performance. However, employers are significantly limited, by both practical and legal constraints, in their abilities to intervene in such situations.
An EAP bridges the space between the personal and professional lives of employees in a way that benefits both employer and employee. A comprehensive, well-designed EAP can proactively address employees’ personal matters to an extent that many potential impacts upon the workplace can be avoided. At the same time, a good EAP is effectively responsive to workplace events signaling that something is wrong, like declining performance, interpersonal conflict, or evidence of substance abuse.
EAPs provide an alternative to insurance-based behavioral health services. Some of the individuals who seek help via an EAP will never need to turn to the insurance-reimbursed services that would otherwise be the only option. Even those who need referrals to more intensive or specialized services following EAP assessment will have a skilled EAP professional as a partner in this process, thus matching necessity with efficiency. These potential benefits can be particularly valuable to self-insured employers who directly pay all health insurance claim costs, although EAP’s have a clear ability to pay for themselves via these direct savings and the indirect savings described above. Other particular employer circumstances that might render an EAP invaluable include:
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The presence of one or more employee governed by U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) drug and alcohol rules
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Participation by an employer in Ohio’s Drug Free Safety Program
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An employer located in a rural area otherwise underserved by traditional health care and social services
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An employer with a large number of part-time, seasonal, or otherwise benefit-limited employees
Substance Abuse
Recent data suggests that nearly 75% of illegal drug users 18 and over are members of the full-or part-time workforce. Between 1/10th and 1/5th of U.S. workers who die on the job test positively for the presence of alcohol and/or illicit drugs (U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2005).
Because abuse of alcohol and other drugs creates both immediate and long-term changes in behavior, its risks to and impact upon the workplace are far reaching and profound.
Untreated Depression
Just in terms of direct medical costs and lost workplace productivity, depression carries an annual price tag of at least $83 million (Greenberg et al, 2003). Employees suffering from depression take more than twice the U.S. average of sick days in any given year (Greener and Guest, 2007).
Workplace Violence
While the stereotype of the “lone gunman” or “disgruntled employee” dominates popular conceptions of this uncomfortable subject, workplace violence takes both lethal and non-lethal forms, all of which are potentially paralyzing to the functioning of an employer. Some of these forms, such as domestic violence that spills over into the workplace, are particularly difficult for employers to recognize and act upon.
Diverse Workforce
By 2014, nearly 50% of the active workforce will be female and more than 1/3 of the total workforce will be comprised of workers of African-American, Asian and Hispanic origins (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2004).
Work and Household Issues
In 2009, there were approximately 39.6 million Americans aged 65 or older. By just 2030, that number will nearly double, to approximately 72 million Americans. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Aging, 2011). As the population ages, more and more their working children will be charged with caring for their elderly parents and relatives, a major stressor, both emotionally and financially, in the lives of many employees.
A full-service EAP plan for your employees and their household members costs as little as $1.50 per employee per month. What would be the dollar cost of just one employee lost to the impact of just one of the problems mentioned above?
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