How can a business determine if it could benefit from an EAP?
Nearly every business can benefit by offering this service to its employees. At some point, every employee — and every manager and executive — will face issues in his or her personal life that will affect performance at work.
By offering an EAP, you can lessen the effect of those issues, positively impacting both your employees’ personal lives and their impact on your company.
What should an employer look for when choosing an EAP?
There are several factors to consider when selecting an EAP provider. Before you select an EAP provider, look at your health insurance offering and see what, if any, services are included in your benefits. These could include things like preventive and/or wellness services that encourage and promote happier, healthier living, mental health and substance abuse coverage and programs targeted at smoking cessation.
When you are ready to choose an EAP vendor, look for one whose primary business is providing EAP services. Employees should be able to call the EAP directly, with the phone answered by a live person, and the first counseling session should occur within no more than a few days of the initial call.
Counseling should be provided by qualified professionals and should be available off site to ensure the sessions remain confidential. In addition, those counselors should be able to make referrals when employees require a specialist or additional long-term care than what is available through the EAP.
Finally, the EAP should be available to employees 24 hours a day and have offices conveniently to where your employees are located.
MARTY HAUSER is the president of SummaCare, Inc., a provider-owned health plan located in Akron, Ohio. SummaCare offers a full line of health plans and ancillary products. Through its extensive network of more than 7,000 providers and more than 50 hospitals, SummaCare offers coverage to more than 115,000 members throughout northern Ohio. Reach him at [email protected].
