Our EAP: BNP Paribas UK Corporate and Institutional Banking (CIB)

Our EAP: BNP Paribas UK Corporate and Institutional Banking (CIB)

BNP Paribas UK Corporate and Institutional Banking (CIB) employs 4,000 staff in the UK delivering services in capital markets, securities services, financing, risk management, cash management and financial advice.

The business has built on the core offering of its EAP to provide a more personalised mental health approach based on identifying the specific issues and life events that can lead to challenges.  

“The organisation has the mindset that mental health does not discriminate based on gender, age, financial status or seniority, lifestyle,” said Thomas Hiles, head of benefits at BNP Paribas CIB.

“As a human issue, it affects everyone: the individual, their family, their colleagues. We want to do as much as we can to provide support in order to limit some of the worse effects. The visible costs of psychological support are actually quite small, but the invisible cost is much greater.”

The approach has moved on from a focus on destigmatising mental health — involving guest speaker sessions facilitated by senior management sponsors — to more specific life topics that staff will relate to at different times: financial worries and debt, starting a family and bereavement, physical health issues, caregiving responsibilities, and specific issues such as trauma and addiction. Again, guest speakers, both clinical specialists and people with stories to share, are brought into the organisation to talk through their experiences and lessons. Staff are supported and encouraged to share their own stories through employee networks.

Linked to the EAP is now a private GP service, accessible by family members of all ages; back-up child and eldercare; and specific clinical interventions focused on fertility and parenting, menopause, and women and men’s health. Innovations include a fund of financial support for people to pay for a neurodiversity diagnosis and ongoing support, and specialised occupational health services focused on mental health. “A strong measure of how this is received is the increasing number of staff who seek support from our OH lead,” said Thomas Hiles.