Corporate Wellness Programs

A lot of EAPS fall into a common – and perilous – category –  Management thinks the program is great, but personnel think it’s a waste. But it does not have to be that way if you have an employee assistance program (EAP) or are considering one.

Seventy-three% of all firms (59% of small companys) have an EAP. But how well does the average EAP work? Not as well as we’d hope. A Mid America Coalition on Healthcare study found –

• just 50 percent of 6,400 personnel surveyed said they’d use the employee assistance program 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 workers with a short, confidential attitude survey.

Objectives –  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 individuals  would likely turn for help. Would employees seek out the EAP? Would they prefer to discuss the issue with their family doctor? A mental health specialist?

The Mid America Coalition’s survey remains an great design model from which to craft a recent survey for your own staff.

2. Promote employee assistance program through education

Your survey data ought to help you pinpoint areas where staff need more education about your EAP. Some awareness-improveing 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. When you’ve a benefits newsletter, spotlight the employee assistance program 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 EAP contact info.

Need help locating educational material? There’s lots of free EAP-related brochures and FAQs here. Don’t forget –  When doing employee assistance program (EAP) education, constantly remind staff that the program is strictly confidential.

3. Be certain to work with supervisors

For legal reasons, supervisors need to tread carefully when they suspect an staff member 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 (EAP) education.

HIPAA compliance –  Beware non-discrimination issues

HIPAA’s non-discrimination rules impact both psychological health benefits and general health plans. Under current interpretations, heath plans can no longer have benefits exclusions that deny benefits for injuries resulting directly or indirectly from pre-existing psychological health issues.

That’s true even if the psychological condition wasn’t diagnosed until after the injury and even if the injury was self-inflicted. Example –  Suppose an staff member gets hurt in a workplace 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, 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 companies, having a strong EAP is one of your best compliance tools.