Are you feeling tired all the time? Does getting in the mood to work take an incredible amount of effort? You might be suffering from burnout. Maybe an employee assistance program is just what you need.
Worker burnout is at frighteningly high levels, and it doesn’t show signs of stopping any time soon.
Maybe you are wondering “what does worker burnout have to do with an employee assistance program?” An Employee Assistance Program might be what your business needs to turn things around. This article will break down just what this program is, and how it can help your business.
What Is An Employee Assistance Program?
An Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is an intervention program that identifies problems your employees are suffering from and attempts to solve them with the help of expert counselors and professionals.
EAPs are traditionally used to assist employees with personal problems and/or work-related problems that may impact their job performance, health, mental and emotional well-being
Now, EAPs have evolved into something much bigger. EAPs can help solve a massive range of problems that vary from simple professional problems to deep personal problems affecting your employees.
This program is absolutely free for employees and all members of their households. It’s a 24/7 service that’s available via chat, email, phone calls, video calls, or face-to-face counseling.
What Does An EAP Cover?
EAPs are comprehensive wellness programs that tackle nearly every single important problem an employee could ever face. Such as:
- Personal life issues
- Health concerns
- Emotional distress
- Professional distress
- Trauma and major life events
- Concerns about your aging parents
- Concerns about your children
- Concern for your pets
- Worries about making major purchases in your life
These services are highly confidential and include long-term follow-ups with a vast network of over 900 mental health professionals providing expert counseling.
Click here to find out what additional concerns an EAP covers.
How Does EAP Help Employees?
1. EAPs reduce turnover rates
High turnover rates remain one of the biggest problems facing organizations today. It takes a long time before an employee becomes an asset to your business and a high turnover rate damages your market presence and long-term revenue.
Employees work hand-in-hand with experts to understand how they’re doing at their workspace and explore any problems they might have, however small. These problems are then resolved smoothly keeping in mind the health of the employee and company in mind.
2. EAPs reduce absenteeism
Unhappy employees eventually stop showing up. EAPs resolve this by talking with your employees and gauging if they feel appreciated at work or not. Employees that feel uncomfortable or unappreciated at the workplace end up skipping work and losing a lot of precious time in the process. It’s much easier to identify problems before they balloon into bigger issues by solving them right as they’re occurring.
EAPs aim to prevent future problems while improving the mental health of the employee at the same time.
3. EAPs create a pleasant workplace environment
A disturbed workplace results in unhappy, unproductive employees. Your best and brightest talent eventually leaves these environments to pursue opportunities elsewhere, and that’s not good.
EAPs focus on changing the moods of your employees and reducing their stress levels. This eventually results in happier, more productive workplaces where you can retain your best talent and make them loyal instead.
Who Provides An EAP?
EAP services are absolutely free for all employees and family members. There are situations where they might encounter fees if they are dealing with problems that the program requires to reach outside its regular capabilities to resolve. The employer can prepay for EAP services as well. In a majority of cases, employers find third parties capable of taking on their EAP and leave it in their expert hands instead.
Contact your EAP counselor to find out how to access your services. There are situations where your group health plan might cover some of the costs through reimbursement as well. Click here for more information.
Conclusion
EAP is something that you should take advantage of. We hope that this article has been informative to just how important they are. Never feel afraid to use it.
Want more information? Click here to contact us. And of course, talk to your employer!