Use your EAP to Save Money

Staff health and wellbeing programmes are undoubtedly going to be an easy target as cuts in spending start to take effect, even though it is clear that such a move is short-sighted and self-defeating.

However, it is undoubtedly harder to argue the case if staff are not using their employee assistance programme (EAP) or similar service. Low use means the staff aren't interested, so the thinking goes, so it's an easy decision to make.

Our experience says this isn't so and that low use usually masks a range of barriers to wellbeing that the organisation needs to overcome.

Promotion
The most obvious barrier is publicity - if staff don't know about a service or think its not for them, they won't use it! Giving out a leaflet when someone joins and sticking up a poster in the staff room is not going to be enough, especially once your colleague loses the leaflet and the poster in the staff room is covered up by the latest sponsorship form.

We try to promote a range of services and activities to make sure that our EAP (Worklife Support for you) is fresh and relevant to staff. Our customers can contact us to learn more. A key lesson is that promoting staff wellbeing is a year-round activity.

Independence and Confidentiality
Many staff feel that a service like an EAP is a 'bosses spy'. This is not the case for all reputable services: EAPs are impendent, professional and confidential. We do not give the employer details of what its staff call about, nor do we tell the world about issues raised from particular organisations.

Not for me
Thinking the service is someone not for me is often prominent in organisations with a relatively low level of emotional literacy, where organisational wellbeing has not taken root. This shows how an EAP will work even more effectively in conjunction with a service such as the Worklife Support Well-Being programme as organisational as well as personal issues can addressed.

And the simple truth is that everyone has times as you go through life where you need a little help - there should be no shame, stigma or loss of self-esteem in using a service like an EAP.

Problems
The flip side of these issues is that many people see an organisation that has a high level of calls as an organisation with problems. Often, this is simply not the case. It is just that staff know about the service and feel empowered and confident enough to use it.

Milestones and Millstones
PPC, a leading EAP provider, produced some time ago a report based on the idea that as we travel down the road of life, we pass many milestones - birth, childhood, education, marriage, buying a house, work, retirement etc - and using an EAP can help prevent that milestone becoming a millstone.

Even the smallest rural school will have staff who have come up to one of life's milestones in the past year. An EAP can support you with information, advice and counselling, helping you to cope more effectively with the issue and so maintaining your level of contribution at work. That is why it is a workplace benefit to both the staff member and the employer.

So, far from dropping staff wellbeing services, tough times are the best time to invest in supporting your staff so that employer and employee alike can weather the storms ahead.