Nowadays many employees will have access to an EAP (Employee Assistance Programme), this is a service financed by the company that will offer free mental health support with work and non-work-related problems. 

In 2013 it was calculated by The UK Employment Assistance Professionals Association, that 13.79 million employees had access to an EAP, which represents 47% of the working population.

Why is an EAP important?

Valued and supported staff are far more likely to deliver the best outcomes for a business, there is strong evidence that workplaces with high levels of mental wellbeing are 12% more productive. 

Workplaces that promote and invest in wellbeing and support mental health are more likely to improve engagement, absenteeism, productivity and benefit from it.

An EAP is just one of the steps needed to promote wellness in the workplace. It is known that for every £1 spent on an Employee Assistance Programme, UK employers see an average return on investment of £7.27.

We’ve prepared an infographic that shows the numbers of why investing in an Employee Assistance Programme is important. 

What does an EAP offer?

As shown in the infographic, 56% of employers said they would like to do more to improve staff wellbeing, but don’t feel they have the right training or guidance to do so.

As a manager, it’s easy to be concerned if your approach to someone struggling with mental health will be right, or if you’ll make things worse. 

Talking about ill mental health can be difficult for some of us. Because you might have experienced complicated situations in the past that involve mental health, or a lack of knowledge because you’ve never experienced difficulties with mental health before.

Educating ourselves around mental health is necessary, especially when you are responsible for employees’ wellbeing.

EAPs like ours offer customised trainings and workshops for managers or seniors, as well as for staff. Training on Stress or Anxiety Awareness, can be extremely helpful to prevent, identify and raise awareness inside and outside of the workplace.

What an EAP like Pro-EAP does?

An EAP has flexible care plans that can suit large and small companies. Normally, the packages the company wants to implement are discussed previously, depending on the number of employees they have and the services they want to use. 

A company like Pro-EAP offers 24/7 Counselling 365 days a year, in our case the telephone counselling is instant, meanwhile the online or face-to-face counselling works via appointment. 

Some EAPs offer self-help tools like articles, podcasts, videos amongst others, as well as workshops and training for the senior managers and staff. Quite often we work closely with the clients to make self-help tools around a certain topic. 

We also offer on-site interventions in the event of a critical situation that needs to be managed by mental health professionals. Additionally, we offer bullying and sexual harassment prevention plans. Get to know more about our services here. 

What makes our EAP different from others is that we have the ability to offer more than just a simple helpline. We do everything we possibly can to engage with our clients through our counsellors and provide resources where they can find help and tips available.

Get to know more about our services here.