Wellness Programs : Why Workers Hate EAPs.
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 does not have to be that way if you have an employee assistance program or are considering one.
Seventy-three% of all firms (59% of small employers) have an EAP. But how well does the average employee assistance program work? Not as well as we’d hope. A Mid America Coalition on Healthcare study found –
• just 50 percent of 6,400 staff surveyed said they’d use the EAP if 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. Employee attitude surveys
The best beginning place – Take the pulse of your workers with a short, confidential attitude survey.
Goals – Ask staff members 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, determine how staff members would handle a serious personal issue.
In other words, determine 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 doctor? A psychological health professional?
The Mid America Coalition’s survey remains an great design model from which to craft a recent survey for your own employees.
2. Promote EAP through education
Your survey data ought to help you pinpoint areas where workforce 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’s potential psychological health issues.
• Staff Member newsletter. When you’ve a benefits newsletter, spotlight the EAP from time to time. Some businesses without newsletters have done e-mail campaigns or targeted mailings instead.
• Worksite 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 (EAP) contact info.
Need help finding educational material? There’s lots of free EAP-related pamphlets and FAQs here. Do not forget – When doing employee assistance program education, constantly remind personnel 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 psychological 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 EAP 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, heath programs 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 staff member gets hurt in a worksite accident he or she caused. After the fact, the staff member is diagnosed with a mood disorder that previously escaped detection by the employee’s physician.
Under current regs, health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA)-covered plans can’t deny benefits. This puts employers in a bind. Mental health issues like depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder are one of the medical conditions that’re most likely to go undiagnosed or underdiagnosed.
That’s why, in most corporations, having a strong EAP is one of your best compliance tools.