“Are people being let down by EAP?”
“Are people being let down by EAP?”
Far from it, says Eugene Farrell, chair of UK EAPA – but it’s important to realise that EAPs were never intended to be the whole solution to rising problems with mental health. They are, however, a valuable starting point, without which many would perhaps not access the help they need. Here Eugene writes for the EAPA blog.
EAPs – the background
Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) have been providing support to employees since the mid-1980s when they arrived in the UK. At that time, there were very few providers. The concept of EAP was new, and talking to counsellors was still rather stigmatised and misunderstood. In the beginning, it was a struggle to get UK businesses to buy into the concept of providing support for employees who might have problems caused by work and home issues. But as time went on, with the increased focus on work related stress and some significant legal precedents, employers began to seriously take notice of what an EAP can do for the organisation and for its people. The popularity of EAPs has therefore increased significantly amongst employers. Research by Employee Benefits Magazine in 2019 showed that 90% of organisations in the UK now have an EAP in place, supporting millions of employees in this country. One could go so far as to argue that EAPs have in fact become an essential part of wellbeing management, and indeed mental health support in the workplace.
Do EAPs have value?
Given the popularity of EAPs, it is rather disturbing to see a recent criticism of EAP as letting people down and we would challenge this. Indeed, studies into the return on investment from EAP services show that employers can expect a financial return in the range of £4.2 to £9 for every £1 spent on EAP services. UK EAPA has also developed its own Return on Investment (ROI) calculator that enables organisations to see the possible return for their own programme. Try the ROI calculator here.
A short-term gateway to long-term help
But it’s to no detriment to EAPs to acknowledge that they have their limits. They are designed as brief intervention counselling programmes to support employees in the short term.
In today’s demand for mental health support it is easy to see an EAP as a provider of more services than it is, leading to expectations that may sometimes be too high. And here we come to the important point to stress: Just because an EAP does not provide longer term treatments does not mean that it is underperforming. All EAPs will provide assessment of the individual’s mental health needs and refer them to the most appropriate support or treatment. This means that where EAP is not the right support for an employee, they would be referred on.
This is how EAPs have always operated and ensures the individual can get access to support that is appropriate to them. It is an often-quoted statistic that one in four people have mental health issues in any year. It is not reasonable to expect all of those to seek treatment. They don’t. It is even less reasonable that all those who do seek treatment would be suitable for EAP. I just don’t see EAPs providing unsatisfactory service. The experience we have in the industry is quite the opposite. Customer satisfaction ratings out there in the market show that people value the service and support.
Counselling outcomes
There is also substantial evidence supporting the assertion that EAPs provide really good outcomes for those who access their services. A global report from Morneau Shepell, in conjunction with EAPA showed clear benefits for EAP: work presenteeism reduced from 56% to 28%, “problem work engagement” – in other words, people not engaging properly with their work due to outside work stress, reduced from 31% to 21%, and absenteeism reduced from 34% to 14%.
In a study commissioned by UK EAPA looking at counselling outcomes in the UK, out of some 28,000 cases, there was 70% recovery or improvement rate. Quite clearly, EAPs are not letting people down. They are an essential part of mental health support for employers, and form part of a range supports that an organisation might provide.