An employee assistance program (EAP) has become a fairly standard offering. Most businesses have some form of EAP in place. Some are good, some great and, unfortunately, some employee assistance programs are not all they are cracked up to be. How do you know the difference? Below we discuss the top three ways you can discover whether you are getting the service you are paying for.

 

 

In THIS recent 2024 report it is shown that only around 5% of employees ever contact their EAP provider. We discuss some of the reasons for the lack of use in THIS article. The more troubling figure is that, of the people who do contact their employee assistance program provider, 42% are rejected. That’s shocking! You, as a business owner or leader, are paying for a service and when your team are reaching out they don’t get the help they require. What exactly are you paying for you may well ask!

 

 

 

It may seem like a basic request, but it’s surprising how many EAP providers do not supply service reports. At a basic level you should be getting reports on how many people made contact, how many were accepted and how many rejected. This can all be done without breaking confidentiality. They should also be able to provide you with reports on which services were used. It seems that many employee assistance program providers (not all) send people to free online resources and even refer them to charities. You should know this sort of information so you can make an informed choice on your provider.

 

 

As you are probably paying your EAP provider a decent amount of money each month, this should be a standard practice. Whether you meet with an account manager monthly or even quarterly, you should be able to review their service with them. They should also be able to suggest ways to increase engagement from your workforce. They may even be able to provide you with posters / flyers and similar media to put up around the workplace.

 

 

The only true way to know if your EAP is effective is to monitor and measure it. Using an external provider, you can evaluate the effectiveness of your mental health support program across your entire workforce. Using an anonymous assessment across your business will tell you if your team are getting any benefit from the services you are paying for. More than that, it can also tell you which area they are struggling in so you can be more targeted in your approach. Would you have any other process or service that you are paying for without measuring it? Of course not!

 

 

The Priority Academy, in conjunction with Projekt Rising, have developed a Workplace Mental Health Assessment that measures the mental health landscape of your business. This means we can measure the effectiveness of your mental health support program and you can make informed decisions. Would you like to know more? Click the link below for more information.