EAP usage and ROI: the pandemic effect in 2021

EAP usage and ROI: the pandemic effect in 2021

The pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 put huge pressures onto employers, their people — and also EAPs. Data from the EAPA UK ROI calculator on EAP usage, impact and financial returns in the UK, representing anonymised information from seven million employees, has suggested that 347,000 more employees turned to support from an EAP between October 2020 and October 2021 compared with previous years.

More people used the full range of EAP services – but in particular there was more complexity of cases, meaning more employees withy multiple issues who needed to access ongoing support and counselling.

Rising ROI

A headline from the latest 2020/21 data, based on information from more than 1,000 EAP usage calculations, is the increase in ROI reported: £8.00 per £1.00 invested, compared with £7.27 in the previous year.

Large employers in particular have seen huge increases in their EAP ROI. Up to 50% in some cases (for those with 5,000 or more staff, up on average from £8.43 to £12.75; and from £8.47 to £12.48 for the 1,000-5,000 employee group).

Get more

“EAPs have done a remarkable job in responding to the spikes in demand,” says EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell. “The industry knows that levels of usage are going to stay high for the foreseeable future as people deal with the ongoing fall-out from Covid-19 and the different impacts on finances, relationships and wellbeing in general.

“For HR it’s a critical time for demonstrating that wellbeing programmes and support is having an impact and that increased spending is worthwhile. Using the EAPA ROI calculator is one way of doing that – as well as making sure attention is being given to the EAP in how its used, its promotion, management and benchmarking.”

EAP usage and ROI: the pandemic effect in 2021 – EAPA UK