Employee Assistance Programmes

Employee assistance programmes, or counselling services, were originally introduced to help deal with addiction in the workplace. Now, however, they automatically cover all mental health issues and many also provide legal and financial help lines. Some providers also provide further services such as mental health rehabilitation, critical incident management and wellness programmes.

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Providers

Providers may be either internal or external - with the external services typically providing 24hr cover as well as being members of an association - EAPA - which requires professional standards.

  

Four Levels

Employee assistance programmes provide services on four levels:

  • For employees and their families, if included, to make direct and confidential contact with a counsellor.
  • For managers to help employees in times of difficulty - personal or in employment - to avoid potentially long-term problems.
  • For managers to deal with falling performance at work.
  • Advice for managers when dealing with issues such as discipline, redundancies, relocation, accidents at work etc.