Whilst workplace stress is on the rise, with 59% of UK adults admitting to workplace stress management issues, mental wellbeing complications are increasingly caused by pressures from beyond the workplace.
Many employees encounter stressful situations such as financial difficulties, divorce, bereavement, and other family-related issues.
In fact, almost half of UK employees attribute their stress to either family or money-related issues.
With these scenarios unfolding outside of work, it’s difficult for an employee to perform at their best. Ensuring their wellbeing isn’t just an obligation under your duty of care, it also leads to improved performance and morale within your workforce.
Many employers offer a helping hand to their employees for dealing with these stressful situations by setting up an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).
What is an Employee Assistance Programme?
EAPs are employer-funded services that give employees 24/7 access to confidential support including counselling, information, and advice on personal issues such as finance and relationships.
They also provide confidential support services for workplace wellness issues such as stress, anxiety, conflict management and burnout.
Why are Employee Assistance Programmes So Beneficial?
These services help employees to save time, reduces their stress levels and enables them to stay more focused and productive at work.
They also help employers to cater for practical needs that may arise out of these support services.
For instance, if an employee is going through a divorce then you can allocate time off for them to attend court dates, switch working hours to accommodate new employee childcare responsibilities and give them advice on divorce pension splitting.
By providing this level of support you will create an environment for an employee to thrive in a workplace setting in spite of the turmoil taking place in their personal lives.
Without support, it’s likely that the employee would suffer debilitating mental and physical sickness symptoms, severely reducing productivity and increasing levels of absenteeism.
How Effective Are Employee Assistance Programmes?
Once introduced, EAPs are shown to have had a beneficial impact on the workplace.
Research undertaken by employee benefits provider Unum, unveiled that 92% of employees who received mental health counselling through their EAP saw an improvement in their mental health.
Furthermore, nearly a quarter of employees called their EAP with a problem serious enough to affect their work and, interestingly, 58% of all female employees used the service at least once.
Without an EAP in place, it appears there would have been several employee wellbeing issues left unchecked leading to problems with absences and productivity.
How to Set Up Employee Assistance Programmes?
If you have problems with employee sickness and staff-absence levels, setting up an EAP may provide an excellent solution for catching employee issues (both inside and outside of the workplace) before they begin to have any serious knock-on effects.
As demonstrated, EAPs can act as the first line of defence for employers protecting the wellbeing of their staff members.
They provide quick and confidential support for a wide range of issues and worries before they escalate and have detrimental effects on productivity.
Here at DocHQ we can provide an EAP as a stand alone service or as part of our workplace wellness package. This low cost service can be a huge benefit for your employees.
Speak with us today to see how we can help reduce your employee absence rates and increase productivity levels within your workforce.
DocHQ Ltd is a Health Tech company improving choices. We help you connect efficiently to health support and advice whether you are at home, work or travelling. See our website for our services or call us on 0330 088 0645.
