You’ve done everything right. You’ve learned how much a comprehensive Employee Assistance Program (EAP) can help with employee health and wellness. You know happier, healthier employees are more productive. You helped put together a quality EAP. And, after reading our article on building a more effective EAP, you’ve taken the time and energy to introduce the full spectrum of EAP services to your employees.
Now what?
The biggest challenge for any company offering an EAP (or any other employee health and wellness program) is getting employees to take advantage of the features when they need them. Employees have the information, but do they actually know what to do – or, more importantly, who in your organization to turn to – in case of a health or behavioral crisis? In most companies, apparently, the answer is no.
The Standard is a leading provider of insurance and other financial products, and they recently commissioned research on the link between employee disability issues and employee productivity.
When employees were asked who they turn to in their company when they needed assistance, the answers weren’t as consistent as any of us would like.
In companies with 100 – 499 employees:
To make things less clear, according to The Standard research, the size of the organization changed the results substantially. In organizations of 10 – 99 employees, as well as those with 2,500 or more, the direct supervisor was noted by employees as the dominant go-to.
This tells us that many companies – companies of all sizes – aren’t communicating or delegating a clear process or point of contact for employees when it comes to actually needing help. This confusion may be keeping some employees from getting the help they need. It could also lead to an overall negative experience or, even, a decrease in productivity.
For behavioral or mental health issues, since employees are already more reluctant to seek help in those areas versus a physical issue (see our article on removing the stigma of mental health), the confusion and negative effects may be even greater.
Based on the research, employees that go to their HR manager first tend to have a more positive experience.
On the other hand, going to their direct supervisor brought up other issues.
HR managers were shown to be more able to help employees in other ways. In general, they are usually more aware of available resources, including EAP services, which is helpful to any employee seeking help. Here are our last statistics from The Standard supporting the HR manager as the choice for EAP manager – the EAP go-to – in any size company.
Not only are HR managers in the best position to help with employee health and wellness issues, they can also help them in terms of the importance of their job and taking more pride in their work. According to an article from Human Resources MBA, an online guide for exploring and picking the best HR degree programs, “An HR manager who takes on the role of EAP manager is responsible for promoting the health and welfare of an organization’s most important assets.”
For more information on how we can help your company with employee health and wellness programs, call Espyr at 866-570-3479 or go to espyr.com.