Few workers utilize employee assistance programs - Portland Business Journal:

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Employee assistance programs can help with financial and personal but industry experts say only 2 percent to 8 percent of workers take advantage oftheir EAPs. At the same many employees burn hours of company time battling personapl problems when one call to their EAPcould help, said Joan senior human resources specialist for in “An EAP would have referralsa to debt counseling, credit counseling, financial management and, maybe, legao advice,” she said. “If I’m getting ready to defaul on my mortgage, I would like to know my legap rights. An EAP would definitely be used in thoser typesof situations.
” Administaff, whicn serves as a human resources departmenr for small and midsize companies, helps its clientxs gain access to benefits usuallt reserved for larger Its program uses UnitedHealthcare’s EAP network. “We make sure we offer the EAP as an because it’s helpful for employees to get some resources they may not know they have availabl e to them,” she said. Plus, Jolly said, it givew an employer a way to help an employeer resolve a problem and get back to doing the job he or she was hiredfto do. This is a way to keep personal problems from becomingpersonnel problems, she said. “It takes the employer out of the she said.
“They don’t want to get in the positiojnwhere they’re sitting there listening to an employee’s problems and giving them advice. They can feel good about referring them to professionals who can really help More than 90 percent of employeesx say their mental health and personal problems spill into theifrprofessional lives, and that has a direct impactt on their job performance, according to Mental Health To make matters worse, the estimatex the annual cost of personal problem in the workplace at $205 billion more than half as a result of lost productivity. Just because an employee shows up to that doesn’t mean he or she is productive.
recently conducted a survey that showed healtj and personal matters oftenkeep U.S. workers from being fully focusedd onthe job. U.S. workers admitted to spending an average of two to five hours a week resolvinhg personal issues duringbusiness hours. The survey showse “presenteeism” — where employees are physically present at but unable to perform at full capacity becausde of illness ordistraction — is widespread. Jodi senior vice president of , said the survet showed 61 percentof U.S. workers go to work distractedf bypersonal problems. “Having a good EAP can help people cope with some of those she said.
“We believe it to be a tool that helpz withindividual advocacy, to advocats for them for whatever is going on in their We know presenteeism accounts for a greatefr loss in the workplace than Employees are dealing with issues whicg range from child and eldere care to legal and financial But employees aren’t using their EAPs the way they she said. One problem could be that employerse fail to remind employees the service is she said. Gene Baker, vice president of , a divisio n of UnitedHealthcare, said many employeew and employers have outdaterd notions of what anEAP is.
“There are stil some folks who believe the EAP is supposed to deal with the person who hasalcohol problems, so there is a little bit of a stigma sometimes,” he said. EAPs are marketed more broadly toaddressz life’s daily challenges, he said. Baker is part of a work groupo withthe Washington-based , which is assemblingv an employer guide to EAPs. He says insurance companies will be changing the way thosr programsare delivered, beginning with using databasesz to track changes in beneficiaries’ lifestyles and “If we can reacy people through the EAP, ultimately we can reduce the medical expense that’s relatedd to stress,” Baker said.
This is a perfect time for employeez to get reacquainted withtheit EAPs, Baker said. “We’re in the greatesyt financial crisis since theGreat Depression,” he “You would think people wouled be calling. They’re not callinf as much as you want or expecgtthem to.” If it’s the potential stigma of mentall illness that keeps employees from callinh their EAPs, Baker said they need not worry; all calls are