Are Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) working? My perception is these programs are operating without the ability to monitor their services.
Employees are comfortable coming forward if there is a problem with their Health & Dental claims, but what happens when an employee contacts an EAP provider?
A brave employee came forward and asked his employer for help last week. I was happy to work with the employee and provide them with the EAP 1-800 number. I contacted the employee 4 days later to ensure all was well. You can imagine how upset I was that no one had not gotten back to the employee.
The EAP was working to find a councilor who would take their case, which is great. However, would you not think staying in touch with the employee to ensure they knew what was going on would be important??? I was not happy when I found out that no one had contacted the employee. I was thankful the Sales Rep got involved and was able to expedite the situation.
It would be great if this was an isolated situation, but unfortunately, it isn’t.
Should we get rid of our EAPs? I still feel they are our best option at this time.
So I go back to, How do we ensure that these EAP providers are doing their job? How do we assist employees who are already too embarrassed to come forward and let you know they have reached out for help?
Please have your employees contact Glendinning Insurance Services; “we are your Trusted Advocates”. Anything your employee says to us is kept strictly confidential.
Glendinning Insurance Services