Employee assistance programs (EAPs) are initiatives by organizations to ensure the well-being of their employee through counseling. The EAPs are a notch higher than the traditional financial or monetary based employee benefits. It tackles the welfare of the employee and those that they care about especially family. Therefore, it delves into providing counseling on various aspects that may affect the performance of the employee including child care, marital concerns, financial aid, and alcohol and drug abuse (Sabrina, 2017). While all the services provided may seem to be beneficial to the employee, there is overwhelming evidence that the employer is also set to benefit.
Work may induce or contribute to stress in employees. On the other hand, employees live in families and communities which pose their challenges that may lead to stress. Therefore, an EAP program that can help the client to deal with personal and work-related stress is likely to gain in various ways including a reduction in absenteeism, fewer labor strikes and fewer accidents at the workplace. Thus the employer gains through increased performance and fewer compensation rates. Additionally, in-house solutions for mental and addiction problems, results in the reduction of medical bills (Sabrina, 2017). Importantly, it has been found to contribute to the retention of talent and skill within a company in an age of stiff competition for talent.
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The contribution of EAP towards the company culture for both emerging and established organizations is evident. It is an indicator that the company cares for its employees. Therefore, the human resource departments within companies should be empowered to perform the tasks of EAP. To this end, therefore, I agree with the author that organizations, established or emerging should embrace EAP based on the evidence of benefits shared.
References
Sabrina, G. (August 3 rd 2017). Employee assistance programs don’t just benefit employees heres why theyre good for employers too. TriNet.Com
https://www.trinet.com/hr-insights/blog/2017/employee-assistance-programs-dont-just-benefit-employees-heres-why-theyre-good-for-employers-too
