CHICAGO, IL. October 16, 2008. Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) positively impact employee performance, according to just-released statistics from Bensinger, DuPont & Associates, a Chicago-based national EAP firm. From January-September 2008, 35% of EAP participants indicated that their personal problems negatively impacted their job performance. After utilizing EAP services, 83% responded positively that their work performance has improved since contacting the EAP.
“The purpose of an EAP is to drive employee productivity, and these findings clearly show that employees believe EAPs fulfill this goal,” says Marie Apke, Chief Operating Officer of Bensinger, Dupont & Associates. “EAPs help employees address a variety of work and family issues ---- issues that when left untreated, hurt job performance.”
A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, “Telephone Screening, Outreach, and Care Management for Depressed Workers and Impact on Clinical and Work Productivity Outcomes,” (September 2007) supports BDA’s findings, especially as it relates to depressed employees. The study found that a systematic approach for identifying and treating depression not only improves an employee’s health, but also results in higher job retention, decreased sickness, lower work-absence and increased work productivity.
“EAPs make such a positive impact in the workplace because of the breadth and depth of the services it provides,” notes Apke. While EAPs focused primarily on substance abuse issues at their inception in the early 1980’s, today’s EAPs offer end-to-end (case management through return-to-work) problem resolution and support for a myriad of issues that affect employees’ well-being, such as:
· Relationship issues
· Legal and financial concerns
· Depression, stress, and anxiety
· Bereavement and grief counseling
· Childcare, eldercare concerns
Bensinger, DuPont & Associates is a privately owned professional services company that is dedicated to promoting healthy outcomes for employees, the workplace, individual and their families through a wide range of consultation, training and counseling services.