| |
|
|
|
Key Drivers
Introducing an EAP programme - The Benefits
- Adherence to Health & Safety Legislation (particularly the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005)
- Duty of care to employees
- Potential litigation
- Supporting and developing a positive organisational culture
- Improving staff morale and motivation
- Prior positive experience of introducing EAPs
- Support in the event of a ‘critical incident’
- Attracting and retaining quality employees
- Providing support for managers in areas of people-problems
Some benefits for the employer
|
Some benefits for the employee
|
- Improve employee performance and motivation
- Problem resolution
- Feeling of being valued by staff
- Support strategic goals
- Cost/time saving
- Free up management/HR time
- Management not qualified to deal with some issues
- Reduce absenteeism
- Reduce grievances
- Reduce litigation
- Reduce cost of recruiting and retraining staff
- Enhanced employee retention
|
- Independent support and advice
- Problem resolution, both personal and work-related
- Improve work/life balance
- Confidentiality
- Self referral
- Additional education and training
- 24/7 freephone helpline access
- Counselling and support
- Resources website
- Financial/debt counselling
- Unlimited telephone support for any issues
|
Industry Facts
11 million days are lost to absence every year, costing businesses €1.5 billion or €818 per employee, IBEC, Employee Absenteeism – A Guide to Managing Absence, 2011
70 per cent of employee mental health problems are either directly caused by work or by a combination of work and home (CIPD, 2009),
74% of employers consider improving employee wellbeing to be a priority over the next year, Confederation of British Industry’s Absence & Worplace Health Survey 2011
Report of Mind’s business summit, May 2011 ‘Taking Care of Business’
Safety net support such as occupational health and EAPs should also be built in where possible introduce and promote an EAP – SMEs can explore pooling resources in a local area to share the costs, supported by groups such as local Chambers of Commerce.
41 per cent of people are currently stressed or very stressed by their jobs – making work more stressful than money worries, marriage, relationships or health issues. (Mind, 2011a)
Seven in 10 employees Mind surveyed in 2011 felt their manager would not help them cope with stress. (Mind, 2011a)
1in 5 people fear disclosing stress would put them first in line for redundancy. (Mind, 2011a)
CIPD Absence Management Survey Report 2010
• Stress remains the second most common cause of short-term absence among non-manual workers
• Stress and mental ill-health are some of the most common causes of long-term absence
• Over a third of employers reported that stress-related absence has increased over the past year
• The most commonly provided wellbeing benefit is access to counselling services, as was the case last year, with employee assistance programmes the next most commonly provided benefits.
In the 2002 landmark case about stress in the workplace (Hatton v Sutherland), the presiding judge reinforced the compelling case for introducing an EAP, by concluding that: “an employer who offers a confidential advice service, with appropriate counselling or treatment services, is unlikely to be found in breach of duty of care”
Reflecting the experiences of more than 10,000 clients, McLeod concluded that workplace counselling reduces sickness absence by 25-50%. The study also suggests that levels of job commitment and satisfaction rise after counselling, and levels of substance abuse are reduced. It also showed that workplace counselling always covers its financial cost, Counselling in the Workplace: The Facts, John McLeod, 2001
|
|