Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) have become highly commoditised and bundled into other products in recent years. Paul Avis, corporate development manager at Ceridian, explores what employers can do to maximise the impact of this important benefit.
With costs viewed as minimal, especially compared to medical and group income protection insurance and pension costs, the scrutiny of what value EAPs are providing to a business is often overlooked.
However, EAP providers can now bring together employee health, wellbeing and engagement strategies, which not only reinforce the core EAP business but can drive the wellness and productivity strategy of an organisation.
This creates a virtuous circle where ROI assessments are complemented by reduced insurance costs. Moreover, HR and compensation and benefits teams can act and react with clear, quantified objectives that are based on detailed, comprehensive management information. Here are the top 10 tips for getting the most out of EAPs.
1. Educate on the breadth of service availability
Employers who do not have an EAP often view them purely as a crisis/counselling helpline and for use as face-to-face counselling. An employer should therefore improve the way in which they are viewed and used with the objective to make them seen as a positive benefit, i.e. an employee does not have to be stressed out to use the service. In addition to counselling support, advice on elder and child care placements, legal support, and health information advice should be added to the range of services offered to bolster the work/life element. At Ceridian, 80 per cent of employee usage is non-clinical and relates to work/life based queries. So marketing communications for employees are important for success.
2. Tailor the communication to the audience
Eensure that the communication mix is not only positive but relevant. We base this advice on what we describe as generational competence: younger males may not like traditional EAP helplines and face-to-face counselling, but are comfortable with seeking online information and counselling and so having access to these, and online self-assessment tools, should be on an employer’s wish list when defining the service.
3. Ensure availability of support material
Following a telephone call, up to 20 per cent of employees will request printed materials on a range of subjects from managing teenagers to budget guides. Manager guides and support are also often overlooked by employers. An employer should check that both the quantity and quality of printed materials are correct, and such materials are also available online.
4. Promote regularly
As well as having these materials, employers should have a clear, rolling communications plan with monthly updates scheduled for employees and regular poster changes to follow up on on-site employee launches and re-launches.
5. Vary the communication
Communications should be made as interesting as possible and this could include podcasts, blogs and flash presentations right through to ‘lunch and learn’ sessions. Once again, employee engagement approaches should reflect what the learning and communication needs are of the employee population.
6. Work with the account manager
When using an outside supplier, work with the account manager who will have the depth of knowledge of what the EAP can provide, what has worked best elsewhere with what results, and can even benchmark client performance against a range of indicators.
7. Act pro-actively on the management reports
As well as working with the account manager, an employer should act proactively on the management reports that are provided. With dynamic reporting software becoming available, employers can highlight hot spots and then specifically target remedial campaigns, e.g. too much work pressures in a department can lead to increased EAP promotion. Line management training can be provided into how to spot/manage stress and this could lead to the introduction of flexible working and team building days.
8. Calculate ROI
The key to success is to assess the impact of the interventions and put a cost/benefit analysis in place, e.g. are work pressure issues declining and are employees becoming more productive as a result? Therefore, wherever possible, undertake an ROI calculation, as colleagues in finance departments are often loathe to invest to save!
9. Broaden the EAP agenda
Broaden the agenda with the EAP provider, as many now offer advanced employee health and wellbeing programmes. These can include health risk assessments, to complement physical health screening programmes and specific health coaching programmes, e.g. on stress, weight, tobacco cessation, and so on. These can be based on outbound telephone and online call support, outsourced absence notifications backed by management software.
10. Create a corporate dashboard
The last tip is to bring all management information together into a corporate dashboard. The health risk assessments, current EAP usage, medical and group income protection insurance claims information can quantify the current employer situation as a start point. Ongoing monitoring of EAP usage with remedial actions, tracking employee changes and goal attainment via the online health tools, and gaining information from outsourced absence notifications help an employer identify absence reasons. The ‘quantify, act, assess (success or failure)’ model can be fully costed with a resultant positive/negative ROI. After all, how can you manage unless you can measure?
Paul Avis is corporate development manager at Ceridian UK. For more information, please call 0800 733337 or visit: www.ceridian.co.uk.
