It’s fair to assume that not all employees want or need the services of an employee assistance program (EAP). We understand that those employees fortunate enough to have a robust personal network to provide knowledge or guidance on either crisis or non-crisis situations may not use a company EAP.
However, please don’t cancel your EAP! While some employees may not need this service, most employees would benefit, at some time in their working lives, from access to an EAP.
In fact, according to the 2011 sanofi-aventis Healthcare Survey, EAPs are the third most common health-related benefit in organizations. Sanofi-aventis’s latest annual survey of 1,598 employees across Canada revealed that 65% of plan members said “yes” when asked if they had access to an EAP at work. And of that group, 23% said they had used it in the last year.
Link between EAP usage and benefits communication
Now, let’s look at the above in relation to another sanofi-aventis survey statistic—this one on the effectiveness of benefits communication. According to the same survey, over a fifth (23%) of plan members feel their health benefit plans have “poor” or “very poor” communication. So, even though 65% of respondents said they do, indeed, have an EAP available, some may not know they have one. Or, they may not realize the full extent of what is available.
While it is possible there might be some confusion over terminology, i.e., the different nuances of wellness, health benefits and EAP, this still indicates a disconnect between the availability of an EAP and the understanding required to access and use it. An EAP exists to contribute to the health and well-being of employees, as well as to provide them with access to information for their general lifestyle. It is an important investment on the employer’s part and demonstrates a commitment to employees’ personal lives.
But if it’s not effectively communicated, the EAP remains a hidden gem that employees may or may not discover.
Another disconnect
When Sanofi-aventis surveyed a group of 50 plan sponsors across Canada and asked them to rate their benefits communication, 91% of plan sponsors thought they were doing a “good” or “very good” job at communicating about benefits. Contrast that to the 23% of plan members who said benefits communication was poor or very poor. (Note: Those 50 plan sponsors were not necessarily the employers of the survey’s plan member respondents.) That’s quite a discrepancy between member and sponsor perception.
Chris Bonnett, president of H3 Consulting, is a long-standing member of the sanofi-aventis Healthcare Survey advisory board. He had this to say about what these statistics reveal regarding benefits communication and EAPs:
“Although they offer other services, EAPs still focus on mental health and relationship issues, many of which are tied to the workplace. The sanofi-aventis Healthcare Survey reports over one-third (35%) of employees have struggled with workplace stress so overwhelming that it made them physically ill in the last year. One area where plan members and employers completely agree is that only a handful of employers (5% according to plan members and 4% reported by plan sponsors) are very effective in helping employees manage stress. Clearly, EAPs have an important role to play, but employees need to know they exist and how to use them.”
And here is the re-connect
To make the most of an EAP investment, a plan sponsor would be wise to invest thought and planning around effective benefits communication. Doing so will help to:
- heighten awareness of the EAP;
- identify its wide range of services;
- explain how to access it; and
- reinforce its aspect of confidentiality.
I suggest a plan sponsor first talk to the EAP provider to see what communication samples it may have on hand that can be circulated or tailored to the employee population. Further, drug and disability claiming patterns, as well as absentee trends, should be examined to see if there is a specific health issue manifest in the workplace that might improve if addressed through various modes of communications and education.
Finally, and simultaneously, a sponsor must examine what communication channels currently exist in the organization that work—and which ones don’t yet exist but must be created—to ensure all benefits, including EAPs, are properly and effectively communicated. Doing so will help re-connect the financial investment in benefits and EAPs to more robust physical and emotional employee health as well as fiscal well-being.