Before we dive into how we launch EAPs, it is important to understand the scope of what a modern EAP should look like.

What Is An EAP, and How Has It Evolved?

Employee assistance programs—or EAPs—are intervention programs that help employees resolve issues that are impacting their wellbeing, and get the support they need in areas within and outside of work.

Organisations typically work with external providers for a range of EAP offerings. These may include:

• Personal Coaching
• Financial Coaching
• Mental health support
• Smoking Cessation Programmes
• Fitness programs

When we hear about EAPs, the first thing that comes to mind is often traditional workplace stress management programs. With these programs, there is typically a singular focus on reactive measures—such as providing support after a problem has occurred. 

But the workforce has evolved significantly, and employees are faced with increasingly complex challenges. To help employees cope with these changes, new elements have been introduced to modern EAPs. 

Unlike traditional EAP models—which are often designed to be reactive—modern digital EAPs have evolved, and benefit employees through their holistic approach to wellness.

The needs of your workforce have changed, and so should your EAP. This means implementing a program that is Preventive, Proactive and Integrative.

How Do Modern EAPs Help Employees?

An employee assistance program goes beyond helping individuals address workplace stressors, to improving other dimensions of employee wellbeing—such as physical, emotional, social, spiritual and financial wellness. 

They are designed to support employees through a wide range of issues and challenges, including:

• Personal or relationship issues
• Financial stress
• Career development and transitions
• Substance abuse recovery
• Mental health challenges

How Do Modern EAP Programs Benefit Employers?

When employees are thriving in their personal and professional lives, they’re able to bring their best selves to work and remain focused and engaged. This contributes to greater performance and profitability for organisations. 

Other EAP benefits for employers include cost savings, and improved key indicators of wellbeing like absenteeism, presenteeism and engagement.

• Findings from the 2020 Workplace Outcome Suite Report indicate that ROI for employee assistance programs ranged from 3-to-1 for small companies, 5-to-1 for mid-sized companies, and 9-to-1 for large companies. EAPs can save organisations US$2,000 to US$3,500 per employee in lower absenteeism and presenteeism. 

• A 2018 study conducted across 28 countries compared metrics at the start of an employee assistance program until the end of three months, where an improvement across key wellbeing indicators was observed:
  • Work absenteeism decreased by 27 percent.
  • Work presenteeism reduced by 26 percent.
  • Life satisfaction increased by 23 percent.
  • Workplace distress decreased by 14 percent.
  • Work engagement increased by 8 percent.
• A separate study outlined the impact of employee assistance counseling services on presenteeism, absenteeism and life satisfaction. 
• It showed that presenteeism and absenteeism fell by about half after counseling. The rate of employees reporting significant issues with life satisfaction also fell from 38 percent to 17 percent after counseling.

How We Launch An EAP

1. Outline Goals for Your EAP

The first step to launching your EAP program is to define your goals for the program. By outlining your goals clearly, you’ll be able to identify key areas to focus on, as well as metrics you can use to measure the success of your program.

Begin by checking in with your employees on what their needs are, and areas where they require support. This will help you identify gaps in your existing employee wellness program, and the type of support or services you should prioritise.

At ThoughtFull, aside from direct client feedback, we look at metrics like overall engagement rate and wellbeing impact.

Conducting surveys, focus groups or 1-1 interviews are ways to gather insights from your employees. Asking questions about the EAP, your existing employee wellness offerings and employee mental health can help you determine pressing concerns among your workforce. You may include questions such as:

• Do you usually participate in employee wellness initiatives? Why or why not?
• To what extent are you satisfied with the current wellness programs in your company?
• Are you experiencing a sense of burnout or fatigue?
• Do you feel that the organisation provides sufficient resources to support your mental health?
• What are other mental health benefits you would like the company to offer?

2. Determine How You Will Offer The EAP

Once you’ve outlined your EAP goals, the next step is to work out how you will offer the EAP. There are three main areas you need to consider:

A. The type of support or EAP services you want to offer 

Various factors, such as the needs of your employees, organisational resources and company culture play a role in determining the type of support or services you want to offer. You may decide to implement an EAP that covers diverse aspects of wellbeing or opt for interventions that address specific issues. 

For instance, if you find that a growing number of employees are experiencing symptoms of workplace stress or burnout, you may want to look into EAPs that target employee mental health. 

Sample Annual Program: At ThoughtFull, after fully understanding our client’s goals, we design an EAP program that impacts all levels.

B. Your EAP model

Your options include managing your EAP in-house, engaging external EAP providers, or opting for a combination of both models. 

C. Selecting EAP providers

The key factors you need to consider when choosing potential EAP partners are:

• A proven track record: Seek out an EAP partner with a proven track record in delivering EAP services to organisations that are similar to yours.
• Established partner network: A provider with an established partner network, and a presence across different markets that your organisation operates in will be better positioned to provide culturally responsive care for your employees.
• Dedicated support: Your company's EAP provider should be accessible, and offer timely support to your organisation and employees through a variety of channels—such as email, phone, online chat or an app.
  
  

At ThoughtFull, we support employers and HR teams in areas like marketing, employee communication, employer branding and organisational mental health pulse checks. Feel free to reach out to our team to learn more about how we can help with launching your EAP. 

3. Communicate and Promote Your EAP to Employees

When it comes to promoting awareness about your EAP, there are two main areas you need to focus on: your communication channels and content. 

Tap a variety of channels, including internal web pages, email, webinars, employee town halls, one-on-one meetings and messaging platforms to communicate your message.

Recognise that different employee demographic groups may have distinct concerns and ways of communication. You’ll need to tailor your communication, and craft messages that resonate with different demographics to foster engagement. 

During the launch period, your content should cover your reasons for launching the EAP, the different areas where your EAP can support employees, the types of EAP services provided, as well as information about your EAP provider. It can help to share case studies from your provider that highlight how other organisations have benefitted from the program, along with information on how your provider will maintain EAP confidentiality. 

At ThoughtFull, we support HR teams with their EAP policy through various onboarding initiatives like internal marketing and messaging.

Post-launch communication is a critical, but often overlooked aspect. After launching your EAP, it is important that you continue to communicate about your offering regularly. To sustain employee engagement, you should aim to promote your EAP at least once every quarter. 

4. Continually Monitor and Evaluate Your EAP

Having an evaluation process will not only contribute to the success of your EAP, but help inform future strategies and initiatives for employee wellbeing at your organisation. It is also instrumental in providing valuable insights about the effectiveness of your EAP, and highlighting areas for improvement. 

Key metrics that you should be tracking include EAP utilization, employee satisfaction, employee retention rates, turnover rates and absenteeism rates. Other metrics, such as cost savings and ROI provide a financial measure of the impact of your EAP. These are key for justifying the costs of investing in employee mental wellbeing to stakeholders.

In addition to monitoring quantitative metrics, it is helpful to gather qualitative data about your EAP through employee surveys. Conducting surveys can help you gain insights on factors like how your employees are responding to the EAP, barriers they may face in accessing support at work, and any questions or concerns they might have about using the EAP.

Tips for Increasing Utilisation After Launching Your EAP

1. Understand and Address the Barriers to Employee Mental Health Care

One of the keys to launching a successful EAP is to understand the barriers your employees face in accessing mental health support and implement measures that effectively address these barriers. Examples of common barriers to mental health care include:

• Low EAP awareness
• Mental health stigma
• Failure to address the unique needs of a diverse workforce

What can employers and HR do?

• Foster open communication about mental health through workplace anti-stigma campaigns. 
• Seek out mental health providers that offer culturally responsive care. Through ThoughtFull’s partner ecosystem, you can gain access to multidisciplinary mental health professionals across diverse nationalities. This ensures that your employees are provided with culturally sensitive and localised care. 
• Ensure that your EAP supports a wide spectrum of mental health needs. For instance, ThoughtFull’s EAP service is a comprehensive program that addresses diverse mental health needs—from employees seeking preventive and curative care, to individuals who require crisis intervention.

2. Build a Culture of Wellness

If the core factors at an organisation are not conducive to employee mental health, toxic behaviours can emerge, making it challenging for EAPs to have impact. As such, building a culture of wellness is fundamental for launching a successful EAP. 

What can employers and HR do?

• Implement company policies that reflect employee mental health needs.
• Build a strong employee support system by fostering workplace connections. 
• Educate managers on identifying signs of distress and mental health issues among employees, and how they can guide individuals towards the right resources and support. 

3. Get Leadership Support for Your EAP

Leaders play a vital role in promoting employee wellness, and getting them involved in the EAP is key to the success of your program. 

What can employers and HR do?

• Encourage leaders to have regular discussions about mental health. These conversations provide an opportunity for the leadership team to share about their own experiences with mental health, how they’ve benefitted from participating in the EAP, and the company’s progress towards its employee mental wellbeing goals.