Many EAPS fall into a common – and dangerous – category – Management thinks the program is excellent, but staff members think it’s a waste. But it doesn’t have to be that way when you have an employee assistance program (EAP) or are considering one.
Seventy-three percent of all firms (59 percent of small employers) have an EAP. But how well does the average EAP work? Not in addition to we’d hope. A Mid America Coalition on Health Care study found –
• just 50% of 6,400 staff members surveyed said they’d use the EAP when they felt overwhelmed by personal issues, and
• one-third said they didn’t even know how to access its resources.
The good news – Firms like yours have seen dramatic improvements in three relatively simple steps
1. Worker attitude surveys
The best starting place – Take the pulse of your employees with a short, confidential attitude survey.
Objectives – Ask workers when they know how to use the EAP’s resources. Then test workers’ knowledge and opinions of depression and other personal issues that may affect their workplace performance and/or safety. In the final section, find out how workers would handle a serious personal issue.
In other words, find out where your people would likely turn for help. Would staff members seek out the EAP? Would they prefer to discuss the issue with their family physician? A mental health professional?
The Mid America Coalition’s survey remains an excellent design model from which to craft a recent survey for your own employees.
2. Promote employee assistance program through education
Your survey data ought to help you pinpoint areas where staff members need more education about your EAP. Some awareness-boosting techniques that have gotten results –
• Lunch-and-learn sessions. Possible topics include dealing with personal-finance stress, caring for elderly parents, understanding depression or dealing with a dependent who has potential mental health issues.
• Staff Member newsletter. If you’ve a benefits newsletter, spotlight the employee assistance program (EAP) from time to time. Some businesses without newsletters have done e-mail campaigns or targeted mailings instead.
• Workplace posters spotlighting EAP. the ones that work best are often posters designed around a specific theme (e.g., anxiety about personal debt) rather than a general “need help?” message. In addition to posters, you might want to distribute wallet cards with employee assistance program contact info.
Need help locating educational material? There’s lots of free EAP-related flyers and FAQs here. Don’t forget – When doing EAP education, constantly remind workers that the program is strictly confidential.
3. Make certain to work with supervisors
For legal reasons, supervisors need to tread carefully when they suspect an employee has a mental health issue.
What you don’t want – supervisors taking disciplinary actions without consulting HR or playing amateur psychologist and “diagnosing” the employee’s problems. Here’s a PDF of some proven tips and talking points for doing supervisor-specific employee assistance program education.
Medical Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance – Beware non-discrimination issues
HIPAA’s non-discrimination rules impact both mental health benefits and general health plans. Under current interpretations, health plans can no longer have benefits exclusions that deny benefits for injuries resulting directly or indirectly from pre-existing mental health issues.
That’s true even when the psychological condition wasn’t diagnosed until after the injury and even when the injury was self-inflicted. Example – Suppose an worker gets hurt in a workplace accident he or she caused. After the fact, the worker is diagnosed with a mood disorder that previously escaped detection by the employee’s doctor.
Under current regs, health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA)-covered plans can’t deny benefits. This puts businesss in a bind. Mental health issues like depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder are among the health conditions that’re most likely to go undiagnosed or underdiagnosed.
That’s why, in most organizations, having a strong employee assistance program (EAP) is one of your best compliance tools.
