Human Resources: The History of EAPs and Work-Life Programs

Employment Assistance Programs, or EAPs, have been in existence in some form since the early 1940s. When the boys came home after the Second World War, they were severely affected by it. In addition to the traumatic physical and emotional damage some of the veterans experienced, they returned to a society that was forced to move forward without them. Women had joined (and then were forced to leave) the workforce, there were several major changes in the home and workplace; civilians were celebrating the war victory and hoping that everything would quickly get back to normal.

A great number of the men who had left their homes and their jobs to fight overseas returned unable to function in either. Civilians were so busy trying to move on and forget the war that they ignored the post-traumatic issues those who had participated in it were experiencing. (Note: the U.S. lost 0.4% of its population or 500,000 soldiers and Canada lost 0.3% of its population or 34,000 soldiers. Although not as staggering as the loss the Russians experienced-over 27% of its population or 11,000,000 soldiers and 13,500,000 civilians-it was still a substantial blow.)

The problem the veterans had adjusting to civilian life first surfaced in the home where the wives blamed themselves. They assumed they were not attractive to their husbands anymore, they were not very exciting, their husbands had fallen in love with exotic "foreigners," they were no longer close friends with their husbands, they could not understand them, etc. Thus, the problems noticed at home remained a closed topic. In addition, women had issues of their own. They had become used to independence at home and in society, and it was extremely difficult for them to return to a traditional lifestyle.

Soon problems became noticeable in the workplace. Of course, veterans were admired, so it was not unusual for a veteran to be used to promote the local businesses. For example, the local factory would have a sign posted advertising that no fewer than 23 war heroes were employed there. However, after the "hero" buzz died down, the owner would notice that those same heroes were not very productive. They were unable to concentrate, arriving late for work, missing their shifts or otherwise not fulfilling their duties. Many had turned to alcohol and were developing dependencies.

At this point, employers were faced with a grave problem: these people could no longer do their jobs effectively. Worse than that, they were costing the company money.

Employers were looking at the following three options:

They could keep the veterans on staff and continue to lose money until costs ran the company down.

They could fire these problematic veterans who had received a hometown greeting fit for war heroes, leave them out in the street, and face the repercussions of an angry customer base.

They could spend a little money on an experiment to try to help the veterans overcome their alcohol abuse and other issues, and thereby get back their dependable, trustworthy employees and potentially receive virtually priceless advertising and public relations work for the company.

The more forward-thinking companies chose the third option and quickly reaped the rewards of their experiment. They set up programs that focused on individuals whose alcohol use affected their job performance, and paired them up with employees who were on the road to recovery. In Employee Assistance Programs, A Basic Text, authors Dickman and Challenger report, "the EAP movement began...with one recovering alcoholic worker sharing his recovery with another." (Employee Assistance Programs, A Basic Text, edited by Dickman, et. al, 1988). These early programs that were offered to the GI generation were referred to as "Occupational Alcohol Programs".

Eventually, more and more programs were created to help the Builder and Boomer generations deal with other issues brought about (or into the open) by the Second World War. The new programs dealt with other substance abuses, emotional therapy, counseling, etc., and they became known as "Employee Assistance Programs" or EAPs.

By the early 1970s, as women were once again more commonly entering the workforce, the scope of services offered under the EAP umbrella widened even further, and the number of companies implementing EAP programs increased significantly. The business community recognized that many routine life events were stressful enough to negatively impact an employee''s ability to perform well on the job.

In the 1980s, "Work-Life Balance" was introduced as Generation X entered the workforce, and many companies, such as LifeCare, offered it under the same heading as EAPs. Around this time, these programs became very significant in terms of attracting and retaining top employees as the talent market was becoming extremely competitive.

Today, as our youngest generation is hired on, most Fortune 500 companies provide both EAP and Work-Life services in their workplace. It is beginning to be widely accepted that these programs help to attract and retain employees and reduce costs, particularly in the area of increasingly expensive health care and time off. This is especially true now that we are living in a society that is trying to lean more toward "working to live" than "living to work".

In addition, there is no "average" household now. It is relatively common for men stay at home to watch the children and keep house. There are same-sex marriages; single women are adopting children, etc. Businesses large and small are discovering that if they offer benefits that can make their employees´ lives easier, the employees will be more productive, more devoted and more enthusiastic, take less time off and be more able to focus; therefore the business will run more smoothly and be more successful.