Companies have been aggressively investing in their employees well-being
and health in recent years (Ton, 2014). Corporate wellness programs, which
include basic health monitoring, exercises, and training seminars to improve
well-being, are used by almost 90% of firms in the United States (Wieczner,
2013). Are you curious as to why their prevalence is on the rise? It s
because the number of people suffering from physical and mental illnesses is
on the rise. As a result, a drop in employee health and well-being results
in a rise in insurance costs, which are carried by the employers.
According to a metanalytic analysis, every $1 invested on wellness
initiatives saves $3.27 in health-care expenses and $2.73 in absenteeism
costs (Baicker et al. 2010). Even though these benefits are enormous, they
leave out an essential area of functional benefits from investing in
employee health and well-being: increased employee productivity. Healthier
employees are not only less absent and less expensive, but they are also
more productive, according to management experts (Odegaard & Roos
2014).
Employees who are actively involved in their work do far better than those
who are not. When you re suffering from physical or mental illness, it s
challenging to stay focused at work. Even a little ailment, such as a cold,
can wreak havoc on productivity by sapping employees energy and focus.
Stress and other chronic or long-term problems have a significantly greater
impact on work productivity.
Couples Therapy
Relationship-centered therapy that connects you and your partner
Productivity:
A by-product of a healthy mental state is being productive. EAPs help
employees build motivation and strengthen work-life boundaries thereby
enhancing their productivity at work.
Orientation Workshops:
Mental health issues are unfortunately still hold stigma towards it.
Usually, EAP providers only offer
Online Counselling
sessions without helping and encouraging employees to come forward and seek
help if they require. Orientating about mental health and letting them know
it is okay to have issues and they are treatable; the services will only
then be utilized to its optimum level creating a positive impact.
Loyalty:
Wellness programs can strengthen the commitment of the individual to the
company. It’s a reciprocal relationship; employees who feel cared for are
likely to match that feeling in commitment to the company - not to mention
engaged employees perform 20% better than their counterparts
Confidentiality:
HIPAA compliance is a certificate that ensures how client records are kept
highly confidential and the system is encrypted. Many EAP providers fail to
comply to this. Employees need to be assured that their conversations and
therapy processes are kept confidential between them and the therapist. If
this is not in place, employees won’t be comfortable using the services that
are being offered.
Therapy processes:
Another key factor is the quality of therapy provided. Many economical
plans would offer 30-minutes consultations contrary to typical and
traditional 60-minute sessions. Qualification of the therapists also need to
be checked while evaluating EAPs.
Accessibility:
Minimization of user interaction is essential for the best usage of EAP
services. When a lot of processes are required to simply book an
appointment, hesitations come up and eventually employees are not up for a
lengthy process.
Engagement:
More often than not,
EAP
providers do not offer to do the background work. That is, managing employee
requests, helping them in choosing a therapist, calling, and making emailers
to create a buzz for the services provided. This is done because, employee
are many a times never aware of such a program running in the
organization!
Reference
Baicker K, Cutler D, & Song Z (2010). Workplace wellness programs can generate savings. Health Affairs, 29(2): 304-311.
Odegaard F, & Roos P (2014). Measuring the Contribution of Workers Health and Psychosocial Work Environment on Production Efficiency. Production and Operations Management 23(12): 2191-22.
Ton Z. (2014). The good jobs strategy: How the smartest companies invest in employees to lower costs and boost profits. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.