An Employee Assistance Program – more broadly known as EAP – is offered by employers to help employees, and often their immediate family members, maintain or improve their mental health and wellbeing.
An EAP program is designed to help individuals address a range of personal and work-related issues. It offers a safe, non-judgemental, and confidential counselling service focused on providing mental health and wellbeing support from qualified counsellors.
An employee struggling with situations such as a relationship breakdown, financial stress, family violence, depression and anxiety, loss of a loved one, gambling, alcohol or substance addiction. You may be unaware an employee is silently dealing with one of these life challenges until it impacts their work performance or attendance.
What are the business benefits of EAP services?
As a small to medium sized business owner or manager you have first-hand experience of the challenge of attracting and retaining high performing employees.
The benefit of an employee assistance program is its accessibility. The service provides employees with coping strategies and resources. This support allows them to better manage personal and work-related stress they find overwhelming. Helping to maintain productivity, ultimately benefiting your business.
By supporting employee wellbeing and job satisfaction through an EAP, you can improve staff retention and reduce the need for frequent hiring and training. Healthy and happy employees are more and engaged in both your business and their role, reducing absenteeism and increasing overall workplace morale.
Employees can access help knowing their concerns will be handled discreetly and professionally. They are able to be open and honest about their challenges without the fear of judgment or repercussions in the workplace.
An EAP typically includes telephone counselling, face-to-face sessions, and online resources. Some employees may be referred to for specialised or long-term support if needed.
The cost of mental health to business
It's often thought mental health challenges affect employees in large corporations in high-pressure, high-stress roles working long hours, or are in specific industries such as healthcare or the legal profession.
In reality, SMBs are often more vulnerable to the financial and operational impact of mental health issues. Absenteeism, reduced productivity, and increased workplace health and safety compensation claims as well as high staff turnover is costly for small businesses.
According to Safe Work Australia, the median compensation paid for mental health conditions in Australia in 2022-23 was $65,402. The median time lost from work in these cases is more than 5 times that recorded across all injuries/diseases.
As a small to medium sized business owner the impact of poor mental health is substantial as you have fewer staff to cover for absent colleagues. This reduces productivity, increases workloads, and creates a higher level of stress and fatigue for remaining employees. As a consequence, this could lead to further instances of mental health challenges, stress leave and high employee turnover.
Psychosocial hazards and EAP
For some time, the focus of workplace health and safety was reducing hazards that could potentially cause a physical injury. In more recent years this has expanded to include psychosocial hazards, which can impact an employee’s mental health and wellbeing.
Psychosocial hazards can include:
- Job demands: An excessive workload, unrealistic expectations leading to project failure, or tight deadlines requiring long work hours leading to fatigue.
- Employee support: A lack of management or supervisor support, poor co-worker relationships, or limited access to essential resources.
- Conflict: Workplace violence, verbal or physical intimidation, bullying, or sexual harassment.
- Role clarity: Unclear job expectations, responsibilities, or performance standards. Lack of recognition: Minimal or no recognition for achievements or contributions.
- Work isolation: A lack of social interaction or support of remote or isolated employees.
An EAP and management of psychosocial hazards are connected. An EAP can play a key role in reducing the effects of psychosocial hazards by providing early intervention services for employees facing workplace stress, bullying, harassment, or interpersonal challenges.
Effectively managing psychosocial hazards requires a proactive approach, including identifying and minimising hazards in the workplace.
Absenteeism and presenteeism
Mental health issues are a leading cause of unscheduled absenteeism. However, presenteeism, where employees attend work but are unproductive, can be an even greater problem. An employee struggling with their mental health may be physically present but functionally absent. Their ability to concentrate and perform tasks effectively is reduced, which could result in safety risks to other employees. This lack of focus can create a work backlog, result in missed deadlines, and a decline in output.
The connection between poor mental health, productivity, and absenteeism can be difficult to identify at first and even harder to manage. The stress and anxiety associated with mental health issues can then manifest in physical symptoms, leading to increased sick days and further absenteeism.
An EAP can help employees address challenges before they escalate and impact their personal and professional lives.
Providing Employee Assistance Program services should not be considered a perk, but rather an essential part of your business. You’re investing in the ongoing health and wellbeing of your employees. It not only improves morale, productivity, and reduces absenteeism, an EAP can attract and retain top talent by building your reputation as an employer of choice that places the welfare of your employees first.
To find out more on how offering EAP services to your team can help them better manage difficult situations, contact the team at Peninsula to learn about our 24/7 counselling helpline and other EAP services.