Keeping employees connected to EAPs is crucial to maintain a positive outlook during lockdown says Eugene Farrell, chair of EAPA UK

Keeping employees connected to EAPs is crucial to maintain a positive outlook during lockdown says Eugene Farrell, chair of EAPA UK.

Good communications will make an EAP the heart of a positive lockdown culture: a place of transparency, empathy and support.

First of all that means being clear and explicit about what’s available. When we’re under stress it’s not so easy to process and pick up on details. EAPs are running a full range of remote services, phone and video conversations, instant messaging and a stock of video and podcast – much of it now tailored to remote working issues. Some services will suit some people more than others, and it’s important employees see they have options.

HR comms need to re-affirm that services are there for everyone, for concerns of all kinds, not just for people who’ve reached the stage of dealing with a crisis. Because the extraordinary pressures and uncertainties mean that all of us are affected and have anxieties to work through.

Employees experiencing stress-related conditions may have turned instinctively to the internet, a GP or healthcare specialist. During lockdown, EAPs need to be appreciated as a first line of support with experts equipped to deal with complex cases.

The breadth of issues that EAP advisors and counsellors can help with also needs to be spelled out. Over the past two months, EAPs have been dealing with contact from employees – many of them key workers – worried about every aspect of COVID-19 and its implications, physical and psychological: fears of having symptoms of the condition itself; dealing with the financial consequences; caring for family members; coping with working from home; juggling responsibilities; coping with social distancing and relationship issues relating to lockdown.

With such personal and sensitive issues coming to the fore, HR need to emphasise the confidentiality involved with EAPs, the protection of privacy involved.

Most of all, every opportunity and channel needs to be used to flag the availability of the EAP – regularly via all IT platforms, email, SMS messaging, WhatsApp groups – as individual circumstances and people’s ability to cope changes day by day.

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