CHAPTER 5:

INGREDIENTS OF AN
EFFECTIVE EMPLOYEE
ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)

EAP are extensive & widespread
Goals, structures, & types of personnel vary extensively
Every EAP requires identifiable minimum ingredients to

reach a high degree of effectiveness.

These necessary ingredients and their specific
uniqueness comprise the primary thrust of this chapter.

Necessary ingredients for EAP

EAP
Awareness

Program
Evaluation

Accessibility

Management
Endorsements

Labor
Endorsements

Broad
Service
Components

Policy
Statement

Professional
Personnel
Financial
Aspects &
Insurance
Coverage

Confidentiality
Supervisor &
Labor Steward
Training

1. Management Endorsements
Backing simply from middle management and/or the

Industrial Relations Department is not enough.

Top management backing can insure these will happen:
Doors will open to EAP personnel at all other levels of

management
Adequate financial support
Enthusiastic support of middle & lower management
A beginning to enlist the support of local top management

2. Labor Endorsements
Organized labor on a national level has wholeheartedly

endorsed the EAP concept, and the other experts in the

field have expounded the value of labor-management
cooperation in implementing an effective program.
Such cooperation is crucial when the industry involved is
union organized and will increase EAP participation by a
meaningful degree.
Sample cases: emotional breakdown & intoxicated
4 years later after the sample cases, these cases have
been replicated with the EAP identifying & securing proper
treatment for alcoholism, drug abuse, & many other
productivity-reducing problems, even 20-25% of the
referrals provided by local union management.

3. Policy Statement
Must have a clear policy statement as to the philosophy and intent of the

program.
An effective policy statement makes clear the following:
To have problem is human, and the workplace is not immune.
The company prefers the interfering problem to be dealt with professionally as early as

possible.
Problems brought to the EAP will be treated confidentially and will not become a part of
an employees personnel file.
Alcoholism & other drug abuse is a disease to be treated, and not a behavior to be
punished.
The EAP exist to assist employees & their families, not as a substitute for usual
disciplinary principles & policies.
In no case will the employee be coerced to use the EAP.

These basic principles are necessary as minimum

components of the companys statement that

its employees are the most valuable asset.
In addition, these principles, properly stated, serve to protect employees who
choose to use the EAP

4. Confidentiality
All employees have the right to seek help for their problems

and know that their problems will be kept in the strictest

confidence.
In any addition, when a worker is referred to the EAP by a
supervisor (rather than self-referred), he/she needs to know
that under no circumstances will this information be noted in
any official files.
Further, any employee needs to know that nothing of the
nature of his/her problem will get back to supervisors or
anyone else.
Only the employee him/herself may (and often does) reveal
his/her treatment (often the best EAP referral source) but no
one else may.

4. Confidentiality (contd)
There are many ways to break confidentiality in an EAP

inadvertently:
Even without trying: e.g. back-to-back appointment
Keep rigid intake/counseling: e.g. must office hours
Randomly assign clients to groups: e.g. AA groups
Handle insurance locally
Let hospital admittance clerks verify employment
Plat (site) visitation
Contacting clients at work
Tell referring supervisors more than necessary. Only need to tell

about: the employee kept the appointment, does/doesnt need

treatment, and has accepted/rejected recommended treatment.

5. Supervisor & Labor Steward Training

The EAP is a joint program
Content of the session should include:
Alcoholism awareness
Family and other problems
Drug abuse
Any problem a referral situation
No problem too small
Policy statement and philosophy
Practical issues to be covered: how to make a referral; off-hours
practice; emergency calls-24-hour coverage; confidentiality of the
program; cost to employers; insurance coverage of the company
policy; EAP consultation available; what feedback they can expect
Killing with kindness

6. Financial Aspects and Insurance Coverage

Some companies pay for first 3 visits and not escalated the

cost of these visits for 5 years.

Like most people, employees are fearful of counseling,
psychotherapeutic, and psychiatric costs.
Insurance must be helpful in paying for any inpatient or
ongoing outpatient visits employees or their family may need.
Some companies cover at a rate of 80/20 percent
(employer/employee)
There should be an okay to pay list provided by the EAP
coordinator & accepted by the insurance company.
The issue of 3rd party payments for the treatment of
alcoholism.

7. Professional Personnel
The EAP Coordinator needs to possess expertise in the

following general rehabilitation areas:

Alcoholism and alcohol treatment
Marriage and family counseling
General emotional problems: e.g. depression, anxiety, stress

reactions
Other typical problems: e.g. financial, legal
Basic Interview/Counseling Techniques and Case Management

8. Broad Service Components

The EAP must be designed to helpfully respond to a wide

variety of employees problems

Such a concept is known as the broad brush" approach
to industrial counseling as distinct from the historically
earlier occupational alcoholism programs
The advantage: more employees get help with problems,
which definitely have an effect on productivity and the
employees well-being
The disadvantage: attract private practitioners who have
little background in EAP and often no training in
alcoholism and other drug abuse rehabilitation.

9. Accessibility
Employees need to be able to get their EAP site in a

timely, convenient, and efficient manner.

In the opinion of the author, the off-site model is more
effective in that such a model better protects the
confidentiality of the client.
Along with accessibility, 24-hour service is critical

10. EAP Awareness

EAP requires constant marketing to be effective
Some of the ways:
Supervisor training
Talks before shifts
Home mailouts
Plant (site) visitations
Presentations (such as union meetings, departmental meetings, &
motivational meetings)
These opportunities to market the EAP

are invaluable

11. Program Evaluation

The company & EAP office need to know is the program

is working & is its dong what is purports to do.

Some of evaluation questions involve the following:
Penetration rates
Cost effectiveness
Nature of client populations
Client satisfaction
Management & union satisfactoriness
Medical cost saving
Productivity gain