Does your company have an employee assistance program as part of your health-care package? If you do, you are one of 68% of employers in Wisconsin who acknowledge that happy employees show up for work every day and are more productive.
Cheryl Lipscomb, director of the Aurora Employee Assistance Program, emphasizes the causal connection between mental and physical health. More than 19 million Americans suffer from debilitating depression.
Some employers respond to the suggestion of an EAP by saying, "We’ve looked at it; but it’s an additional cost we’d like to avoid."
Other employers, who haven’t taken the time to investigate the benefits, ask, "What’s an employee assistance program going to do for us besides add another layer of costs to our health-care premiums?"
Everyone knows health-care costs have been climbing in double-digit amounts. So, it’s no surprise that cost is a factor in adding benefits. However, the added expense of an employee assistance program actually lowers costs, and not just health-care alone. Here’s why:
American businesses suffer a loss of $42 billion dollars a year due to absenteeism. Whatever measures you can take to reduce absenteeism are going to increase productivity. If you’re a small company, where fewer employees wear several hats, it’s even more critical to maintaining monthly production quotas and on-time deliveries.
Why do some employees miss more days than others? The answers are more often found in their personal lives. Both husband and wife may be working. They’ve got to balance their work with their home-life. Perhaps their marriage is about to dissolve due to a financial crisis. A decision has to be made about putting an elderly parent in a nursing home. Their teenage child is a behavior problem at school. The youngster is in trouble with the law. They’ve got a run-away daughter. Maybe they’re not getting along with someone at work.
Short of engaging a pastor or a full-time psychologist in your human resources department, what can you do? That’s where an EAP can help.
With a sound employee assistance program, your employees can receive confidential professional help without sharing their troubles with an employer, an action they may be reluctant to take.
Mary Liebetrau, director of human resources at Cedar Community in West Bend, said her company delayed getting an EAP for its 625 employees, 80% to 85% of whom are women. She can’t put a price on the benefits, but in their third year, she recognizes the value.
"In this fast-paced society, people have a problem balancing work and their personal lives. They’ve got budgeting, child-care and behavior problems at home," said Liebetrau, "With our Aurora EAP, all they have to do is dial an 800 number to get help with complete confidentiality."
Employee assistance programs have grown out of alcohol and drug rehabilitation efforts. Doctors know there’s a cause and effect between mental attitude and physical illnesses. Depression, if left untreated, is the leading cause of death and disabilities, more costly than heart disease and AIDS.
At Aurora Employee Assistance Program, Lipscomb and her staff of are just an 800-number away from more than 100,000 employees in more than 170 companies they handle in eastern Wisconsin.
Cheryl Mealey, the company’s business development account representative, does assessment evaluations to customize their services to the clients’ needs.
"With new accounts, we’ll hold orientation meetings with both the employees and supervisors to make sure they understand the scope of assistance we offer. We also provide stress management training where necessary," Mealey explained.
To emphasize the scope of Aurora’s EAP, Lipscomb cited this example: "If an employee in Wisconsin has an elderly parent in Florida who needs some kind of assisted living or medical care, we have affiliates there. They can provide the necessary help. We’ll even engage legal assistance, when necessary."
Both Lipscomb and Mealey mentioned that the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York increased the stress level of people, even among younger employees, who typically feel invulnerable.
Additional stress and worry has been brought about from the declining value of retirement accounts.
Fear breeds stress, and stress affects physical health, as well as mental well-being. People who planned to retire this year have postponed the day, hoping the economy improves.
The stress that men experience often shows up as aggressive behavior at work. Anxiety and depression are more difficult to diagnose. Those with depression often deny it. There’s still a stigma to mental health problems. The confidentiality an employee has dealing directly with the Aurora professionals helps them overcome the fear that someone at work is going to find out they have a problem.
"Most employers appreciate the value of their employees," Lipscomb said. "For any company, regardless of its size, an EAP will do three things. The program will immediately increase productivity by reducing absenteeism, keeping people on the job because their problems are being addressed away from work. That’s a cost savings.
"The program enables us to catch employee problems in the early stages, when they’re more easily solved, before they do greater damage to their health, she said.
"And, in the long run, an EAP will decrease overall health-care costs. It’s not a Band-Aid, not a quick fix. The first year, your costs may actually rise, because we’re working with people who have pent-up problems that first year. But we’ve seen results that indicate an EAP will save $5 to $16 for every dollar spent on health-care premiums," she said.
Kathy Kirst, director of human resources for R & B Wagner, Inc., Milwaukee, said she initiated an EAP in 1997 when her company introduced a drug and alcohol testing program. Carrie McEvoy-Ripp, Wagner’s account executive at Aurora, said Wagner’s employees have been strong users of the program.
"Our supervisors are not trained counselors. The EAP gives them an opportunity to suggest help (when they know someone needs it)," Kirst said. "We have an added counseling package in our EAP."
George Koleas, manager of human resources for E.R. Wagner, Inc., has worked for several companies who have employee assistance programs.
"Aurora’s EAP has been very good for us," Koleas said. "We’re not professionals in the business of counseling people. Moreover, there’s a detachment that the EAP provides to our employees along with the confidentiality aspect."
E.R. Wagner has two plants, one in Milwaukee and another in Hustisford, with a total of about 300 employees.
Koleas said he couldn’t put a dollar value on the services provided by Aurora’s EAP, but he knows it has reduced absenteeism and the costs of hiring and training new people.
"I’d recommend an EAP for every company, regardless of their size," Koleas said.
Stress and substance-abuse comprise more than 25% of employer health costs. In addition to increased productivity, maintaining employees’ emotional and mental health results in significant reductions in long term health-care costs.
Oct. 11, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
