I will start by acknowledging that it has been a couple weeks since I have done a Blog. I was kiteboarding up the coast of Brazil and due to moving hotels every couple days, I didn’t take my computer with me. There has been lots going on in the Employee Benefits world while I was away, so stayed tuned.
I wanted to start my serious of Blogs with the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). If you read my previous Blogs you will have known that I was disappointed with the service or my perception, lack of service one of my client’s employees received.
Do EAPs Need to Change or do we Need to Manage our Expectations?
I would like to thank Rod Ezekiel from LifeWorks by Morneau Shepell for contacting me and reviewing the services that an EAP offers.
My other perception is that an EAP goes unchecked. How do we know if an employee has received assistance if they do not want their employer to know they are accessing it? Rod told me about the Council on Accreditation (COA) and LifeWorks was one of the first EAP providers to receive the accreditation. Below is the information that Rod sent.
Here is the information on our accreditation as an EAP provider
Every three years we are audited by the Council on Accreditation (COA), under the criteria developed jointly with the Employee Assistance Society of North America (EASNA). As the industry pioneer and leader, we were the first Canadian provider to achieve COA accreditation, we are proud of our continuous investment in our people, programs, and systems to ensure unparalleled quality. Our long-standing success is attributable to the quality assurance standards and clinical practices that we employ.
The COA program of quality improvement is designed to identify providers that have set high performance standards for themselves and have committed to provide the best quality services. COA accreditation is your assurance of EAP service excellence and a mark of integrity and industry leadership that provides an ongoing benefit to every Morneau Shepell individual and organizational client.
Our most recent accreditation was renewed ahead of schedule with the following feedback provided by their audit team: “Morneau Shepell was expedited through the Pre-Commission Review Report process as a result of not receiving any out-of-compliance ratings in any of the fundamental practice standards. Congratulations on this amazing achievement”.
Additional Information:
As the first EFAP organization to receive accreditation, Morneau Shepell has continued to be fully accredited with the COA since 2001. We just recently received re-accreditation, and more than 200 internal staff and stakeholders within Morneau Shepell were involved in the accreditation process, across all management levels and enabling functions. We were successfully re-accredited in 2018.
Here is a link to determine if a company is accredited or not.
http://coanet.org/accreditation/who-is-accredited/who-is-accredited-search/
If you are looking for a Broker who works for their clients, contact Glendinning Insurance Services.