30 Aug Do You Need an Employee Assistance Program (EAP)?
Stress. It’s one of those unwanted but guaranteed things in life, like taxes.
Employees experience stress at work and home. With the global pandemic, employees are more stressed than ever. They’ve had to make multiple adjustments to protect themselves, their families, and coworkers.
An employee assistance program, or EAP, can help reduce the stress of your employees.
What is an Employee Assistance Program (EAP)? (Also referred to as an Employee Assisted Program)
An employee assistance program (EAP) or employee assisted program is an employee benefit program that assists employees with personal problems or work-related problems that may impact their job performance, health, mental and emotional well-being.
Simply put, an employee assistance program (EAP) offers employees professional and confidential assistance to help them with their personal, family, and work issues. Most often, these services come as a benefit with little to no charge to the employee.
Adding an Employee assistance program is a great way to show you care!
What Kind of Benefits Are Offered?
Short-Term Counseling
One of the most significant benefits of an employee assistance program is having readily available, confidential support from qualified professionals for personal, family, and work-related issues. Counseling services can include assessments, remote short-term help, or referrals.
When your company’s benefits program includes EAP services, your employees could quickly locate and be able to talk to a helpful mental health professional without incurring out-of-pocket costs.
Employee counseling can help with:
- Addiction issues
- Anxiety at work
- Depression
- Stress with personal relationships or other issues at home
- Other mental health concerns
Learn more about short-term counseling.
Financial Concerns
Several issues can cause stress or mental strain. Finances are often one of the top three stressors for employees. The global pandemic certainly didn’t help people’s anxiety regarding finances.
EAPs provide financial experts to help employees with complicated issues such as budgeting, controlling debt, teaching children to manage money, investing for college, and preparing for retirement.
To help combat financial stressors, some employers have chosen EAPs that go above and beyond the typical financial component of the benefit.
Some examples of financial matters for which employees may request consultation include:
- Rebuilding Your Credit
- Developing a Spending Plan
- Getting Out of Debt
- Garnishments
- Tax Levy/Wage Garnishment Resolution Program
- Pre-Retirement Analysis
- 401(k) Analysis
- Home Buying Strategies
- Mortgage Counseling
- College Funding Analysis
- Income Tax Services
- Student Loan Debt
Read more about CPS’s Financial Services.
Legal Assistance
Believe it or not, many EAPs include a legal resource benefit. This benefit provides employees and their eligible family members with no-cost legal advice for a wide variety of legal issues, including:
- Bankruptcy and credit issues
- Civil actions and small claims court
- Contracts
- Family law matters, including divorce, custody, child support, and adoption
- Landlord/tenant issues, including eviction and lease questions
- Name changes
- Probate matters
- Real estate and foreclosure
- Trusts
- Wills and living wills
After a phone consultation, if it is determined that the employee needs to hire a lawyer, the EAP will be able to recommend a qualified attorney specializing in the needed area.
Read more about our core legal services.
Work-Life Balance
Every employer is aware that family issues or unexpected situations will arise with their employee. Life is full of the unexpected, and many times employees are navigating life situations that they have not dealt with before—like taking care of an elderly parent, facing divorce, housing or transportation issues, the list goes on.
The good news is that employees do not need to ‘know’ what they are looking for; they simply need to identify that they feel pulled between the job and home, burned out, or just want to reinvigorate their engagement at work. They may be looking for help in setting practical boundaries or developing strategies to keep limits on bringing work home. They may also be seeking help to be more present at home and with family.
With a simple phone call or a search on the company’s EAP provider’s website, they may find the information they needed. If not, the EAP specialist on the phone will be able to ask them questions to help them better identify their needs to then provide the assistance they need.
Discover how work-life services can help your employees.
Personal Wellness
When we think of personal wellness, people tend to think about exercise and eating healthy. These are components of personal wellness, but there is so much more. And guess what? The EAP can help!
Healthier employees are often happier and more productive. It does need to be mentioned that there is more to health than simply a person’s weight. Other possible areas that may impact personal wellness can include:
- Community
- Emotions
- Finances
- Hormones
- Personal organization
- Physical movement
- Time management
- Sleep habits
Read more about Care Plus Solution’s Wellness Solutions.
If you have not already considered adding an employee assisted program to your list of benefits, now is the time to do so. EAPs can be instrumental in helping you retain exemplary employees. Employees tend to work harder for employers when they feel that the employer cares about them and their wellbeing. Employee assistance programs is a great way to show you care!
Care Plus Solutions is America’s first EAP and is headquartered in New York and has offices in New Jersey. Over the course of the company’s 46 year history, their brand has remained firmly rooted in the rich history of the EAP field, never losing sight of the fundamental purpose of the EAP; delivering personal and quality services to those in need. It is fair to say that Care Plus Solutions is the gold standard in the field of Employee Assistance.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_assistance_programhttps://www.dhs.gov/employee-resources/blog/2021/01/28/legal-resource-benefit-through-your-eaphttps://humanresources.vermont.gov/sites/humanresources/files/documents/EAP.Messenger.Winter.2017.pdf
