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Employee Assistance
Programs
Background
Programs that assist employees and family
members with substance abuse, mental health, family, and other problems
that negatively affect their job performance exist in many workplaces in
several forms:
Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)
EAPs are generally provided by employers or
jointly by employers and unions. These programs vary considerably in
design and scope. Some focus only on substance abuse problems; others
undertake a 'broad brush' approach to a range of employee and family
problems. Some include proactive prevention and health and wellness
activities, as well as problem identification and referral, and some are
actively linked to the employee health benefit structure.
Member Assistance Programs (MAPs)
MAPs are provided by unions and, like EAPs,
these vary considerably in design and scope. Unions have a long and
distinguished history of addressing member, family health and welfare
concerns in addition to working conditions. MAPs undertake a range of
prevention, problem identification, referral, and counseling activities
for workers and their dependents.
Peer Assistance Programs (PAPs)
PAPs are generally sponsored by employers
and/or unions and use trained peers to work with troubled employees to
address substance abuse as well as other problems within certain rules and
limits. This type of assistance program is often used in employment
settings in which supervision is less direct or frequent.
Assistance Programs may be implemented in
several ways:
Referral-only Programs
Referral-only programs provide supervisors
and managers with a telephone number to give to troubled employees that
accesses inperson and/or telephone referral to community resources,
self-help programs, and substance abuse treatment providers. Some programs
provide for a modest amount of crisis intervention counseling or referral
to community resources for such interventions. Generally, no case
management or financial support is provided in these programs.
Inhouse Programs
Inhouse programs with outside treatment
resources have employees who specialize in crisis intervention,
assessment, and referral to outside sources for assistance. These programs
often provide assistance to supervisors and managers as they handle
employee performance reviews and identification of problems.
Outside Programs
Outside programs provide crisis
intervention, short-term counseling, assessment, and referral to
specialized sources of assistance with the use of a consultant or firm
providing these services. This is a very common model of employee
assistance, providing highly specialized staff and services on an outside
basis and removed from the direct eye of the employer, which is often
found to be more acceptable to employees.
Consortium Programs
Consortium programs combine employers,
unions, and worksites, usually within a defined geographical area or a
specific industry, to offer assistance services often on a more
comprehensive and less costly basis.
Mixed Model Programs
Mixed model programs have been developed for
employers and unions with multiple worksites with different needs and
resources.*
*Adapted from Backer T. 'Strategic Planning
for Workplace Drug Abuse Programs, Second Edition.' National Institute on
Drug Abuse, 1994.
The intent of the assistance programs is to
ensure that employees and family members have access to confidential
assistance when they need it and, hopefully, before problems appear on the
job. When problems do appear on the job, assistance programs help
supervisors, managers, and employees engage constructively to support
employees as they address problems, seek and receive counseling or
treatment, and return to work.
The History of Assistance Programs
Assistance programs have evolved and grown
into an industry of their own since the 1970's. At that time,
performance-based interventions to address the individual and
organizational costs of alcohol and other drug abuse began to be widely
adopted. By the mid-1980's, the impact of health benefits cost containment
approaches such as managed care brought considerable change and
consolidation to providers of assistance programs.** Today, the market is
divided among several large, national behavioral health and assistance
providers, a number of major, regional and numerous local and 'boutique'
or specialized providers who focus on particular employee populations.
** Masi D. 'Evaluating Your Employee
Assistance and Managed Behavioral Care Program.' Performance Resource
Press: Troy, Michigan, 1994.
Costs of Assistance Programs
The costs of assistance programs vary
considerably. In 1995, the average annual cost of such services per
eligible employee nationwide was estimated to be about $28.00 for inhouse
programs and about $22.00 for outside programs.*** These costs compare
favorably to the costs associated with recruitment and training
replacements, estimated at about $50,000 for employers such as IBM.****
*** French, M.T., Zarkin, G.A., Bray, J.W.,
& Hartwell, T.D. 'Costs of Employee Assistance Programs: Comparison of
National Estimates from 1993-1995.' Journal of Behavioral Health Services
Research: February, 1999.
**** Falco, M. 'The Making of a Drug-Free
America: Programs That Work.' Times Books: New York, 1994.
Selecting an Employee Assistance
Program Provider
When seeking to purchase employee assistance
program services, it is important to prepare certain information so that
providers can analyze and respond to your interests and needs. Information
generally sought by providers includes:
- The drug-free workplace or equivalent
policy statement
- Information about the health benefits
structure
- General information about the
workforce including number of employees, supervisors, work sites, job
categories and work type, available demographic data on employees and
covered family members
- Services to be included
- Budget range or considerations for
these services
- Reports that will be needed
With this information, providers are able to
suggest a package of services, cost structure, and contract for
consideration. When reviewing providers' offers, there are several
important points to review:
- Provider's experience? (current
clients, years of service, references)
- Provider's locations (familiarity with
the community in which covered employees live and work)
- Scope of services (substance abuse
prevention, stress management, elder care, wellness programs)
- Hours of service
- How the provider handles publicity,
referrals, quality review of referrals, and followup
- Training and credentials of provider's
staff
There are no universal standards for
employee assistance program services or for the qualifications of program
staff. In some states, however, there are established guidelines and there
are national organizations that address the question of standards. The
Employee
Assistance Society of North America
maintains
an accreditation program that sets standards for internal and external
employee assistance programs. The
Employee
Assistance Professional Association
is a professional membership organization that certifies the
qualifications of individual employee assistance practitioners.
Overview of Online Information
The links on the this page will take you in
several directions:
General information
about assistance programs is provided in:
A model
is provided by the
Office
of Personnel Management's Model Employee Assistance Program
for Federal agencies and describes the necessary functions and
relationships of the employee assistance program. Information about the
Federal government's policy and programs is provided in:
Your
Federal Employee Assistance Program: A Question and Answer Guide for
Federal Employees
An example
is provided by the
Department
of Health and Human Services Employee Assistance Program
offered
to its employees and family members.
Discussions of the
emergence
and evolution of employee assistance and managed behavioral health
programs are provided in:
Cost and benefit information
is provided in:
Information about the professional
associations and assistance services
is provided in:
Other Sources
Information about employee assistance
programs and providers is often available from State and county alcohol
and drug agencies or from managed care organizations or health insurance
providers. Information about other forms of assistance programs, i.e.,
member and peer assistance programs is usually available from union safety
and health departments.
List of Resources 
Our
 icon
indicates Workplace Resource Center items. The additional links will
take you to materials on other web sites.
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A
Research Project to Design a Practical Evaluation for an EAP
Adrienne Keller, Ph.D., University of Virginia,
describes a research project to design a practical evaluation
for an EAP.
<<<eBriefing>>>
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Alcohol,
Tobacco, and Other Drugs Resource Guide: Employee Assistance
Programs
This Center for Substance Abuse Prevention guide
includes resources to help create and operate workplace
prevention programs.
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Benchmarking
Employee Assistance Programs: An Association for Employee
Assistance Programs Gives Benefits Managers One Way of Assessing
their Program's Efficiency
This 4-page article from the November 1997 issue
of Benefits Canada discusses ways of evaluating the service
provided by an employee assistance program, with particular
emphasis on accreditation through the Employee Assistance
Society of North America .
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Drugs
at Work (Employee Version) [Videocassette]
The employee version of Drugs at Work (1988, NIDA)
differs from the employer version only by the addition of
comments by the employees of a private corporation, offering
their perception of an employee assistance program policy and
program. A facilitator's guide is also available. Length: 23
minutes (VHS01).
Available from the National Clearinghouse on Alcohol and Drug
Information (NCADI) at 1-800-729-6686.
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Employee
Assistance Professionals Association
This association is the largest and oldest
professional association for persons in the employee assistance
program field representing more than 7,000 individuals and
organizations.
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Employee
Assistance Programs Are Evolving To Meet Changing Employer Needs
- Steady Growth of EAP Enrollment To Continue In The Years
Ahead. WMC by Fax; Vol. 1, No. 6
This Center for Substance Abuse Prevention
resource describes three scenarios for the evolution of EAPs.
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Employee
Assistance Programs (EAP). WMC Fact Sheet
This Center for Substance Abuse Prevention
resource provides an overview of Employee Assistance Programs.
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Employee
Assistance Programs: Making them work for members
This booklet is designed to provide information
and guidance to American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees (AFSCME) members in the development,
implementation, and improvement of EAPs.
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Employee
Assistance Programs: Then, Now, and in the Future (9/98), Dr.
Paul Steele
This paper from a conference sponsored by the
Center for Substance Abuse Prevention's Workplace Managed Care
project discusses the emergence, maturation, and future of
modern EAPs, and the impact of managed care on these programs.
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Employee
Assistance Society of Northern America
The Employee Assistance Society of Northern
America is an international organization of professional
employee assistance providers with competencies in workplace and
family wellness, employee benefits, and organizational
development.
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Evolution
of Employee Assistance Program Models within the Managed Care
Environment
Paul Steele, Ph.D., University of New Mexico,
discusses the evolution of employee assistance programs.
<<<eBriefing>>>
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Getting
Help (Employee Version) [Videocassette]
Getting Help (1988, NIDA) highlights employee
assistance programs (EAP's) and the benefits of these programs
to employees and employers through comments by business, labor,
and government leaders and EAP professionals; presentation of
three model programs; and EAP client interviews. The employee
version of Getting Help differs from the employer version by the
addition of more employee assistance program client interviews
and by fewer industry, labor, and government leader comments. A
facilitator's guide is also available. Length: 23 minutes
(VHS03).
Available from the National Clearinghouse on Alcohol and Drug
Information (NCADI) at 1-800-729-6686.
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Getting
Help (Employer Version) [Videocassette]
Getting Help (1988, NIDA) highlights employee
assistance programs (EAP's) and the benefits of these programs
to employees and employers through comments by business, labor,
and government leaders and EAP professionals; presentation of
three model programs; and EAP client interviews. The employer
version of the video describes the elements of a successful EAP
program regardless of the number of employees or the nature of
the work. A facilitator's guide is included. Length: 24 minutes
(VHS04).
Available from the National Clearinghouse on Alcohol and Drug
Information (NCADI) at 1-800-729-6686.
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Guide
to Employee Assistance Programs and Services in Canada
The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse maintains
this searchable database of Employee Assistance Programs and
services in Canada.
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Model
Employee Assistance Program in Support of a Drug-Free Workplace
A model Employee Assistance Program provided by
the Office of Personnel Management.
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Prevention
Primer: Employee Assistance Programs
This entry in the Prevention Primer published by
the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention provides an overview
of employee assistance programs and a reference list.
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Substance
Abuse Prevention in the Workplace: WMC Fact Sheet
This Center for Substance Abuse Prevention fact
sheet provides an overview of effective prevention and early
intervention strategies and programs for the workplace.
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Substance
Abuse Services for Multiemployer Fund Participants
The International Foundation of Employee Benefit
Plans mailed a survey to salaried administrators of 722
multiemployer health funds. Responses were received from 185
funds (a 26% response rate). These 185 multiemployer health
funds provide benefits to nearly 800,000 participants
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The
Cost of Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs): Findings from Seven
Case Studies: WMC by Fax; Vol. 1, No. 3
This fact sheet from the Center for Substance
Abuse Prevention discusses the rapid growth of EAPs and the
estimated costs of running an EAP.
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The
Impact of Employee Assistance Program Use on Health Care Costs -
Gary A. Zarkin, Ph.D. Director of the Health and Human Resource
Economics Program, Research Triangle Institute
This discussion of the benefits and costs of EAPs
is from a conference sponsored by the Center for Substance Abuse
Prevention's Workplace Managed Care project.
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Workplace
Managed Care Research: Successful EAP Models - Paul M. Roman,
Ph.D., Director for the Center for Research on Deviance and
Behavioral Health, Institute for Behavioral Research, University
of Georgia
This resource from a conference sponsored by the
Center for Substance Abuse Prevention's Workplace Managed Care
project discusses sucessful EAP models, including early design
and strategy.
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Your
Federal Employee Assistance Program: A Question and Answer Guide
for Federal Employees
This Office of Personnel Management brochure for
Federal employees answers questions commonly asked about
employee assistance programs.
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