Employee Assistance Plans provide the means to improve employee morale, enhance productivity, and change lives, all for a fraction of the cost of most benefits. Let CG Hylton provide this to your population in Canada.

1. Creating Winning EAP
Strategies
2004 Human Resources
Conference
Apr 2004
Chris Hylton, MA
chris@hylton.ca
1 800 449-5866

2. Introduction
The importance of Employee Assistance Programs
in the workplace cannot be denied.
Using examples and scenarios from real life, the
session will demonstrate how the EAP, properly
aligned with an organization’s Drug & Alcohol
Policy, its Critical Incident Response Plan, and
overall Wellness Strategy, will improve
productivity, morale, and revenue.
At the same time decreasing work absences, and
medical and disability claims.
HYLTON 2

3. What is an EAP?
Short Term Counsel
Issues dealt with:
Stress
Depression
Family / marital
Alcohol
Substance Abuse
Confidential
HYLTON 3

4. Who is the Target?
 68% of ees will at
some time
experience mental
health problems
 severe enough to
prevent ees from
coping with day-to-
day duties in the
workplace
HYLTON 4

5. HYLTON 5

6. Typical EAP Use
Work
place
Family
Alcohol Substance Abuse
Depress Stress
HYLTON 6

7.  Nothing relating to counselling
session is repeated
 Licensing and professional conduct
rules of counsellors prohibit
disclosure without patient’s written
informed consent
 First contact by phone then sessions
at counsellor office
 Appointments staggered
 Reports - statistics not specifics
HYLTON 7

8. Confidentiality Exceptions
 Harm to self
 Informed consent
 Harm to others?
 Double edged
sword
 Burden of proof
 Get it in writing
 Keep paper trail
 Get legal opinion
HYLTON 8

9. Waiting Period
 Accessibility is
 48 hours norm
 Crisis situations
receive quick help
from EAP
HYLTON 9

10. Prevalence of EAP’s
 80% of larger cos
 50% of medium-sized cos
 25% or less for smaller cos
HYLTON 10

11. Types of EAP’S - Internal
 Staffed by employees with counselling
credentials
 Separate entrance / building and
procedures - guarantee confidentiality
 Back-to-back appointments
 Some well received programs are lead by
reformed alcoholics - very credible within
the organization
HYLTON 11

12. Types of EAP’s - External
 Back-to-back appointments monitored
 Fee for service, or insured / capitation
basis
 Insured contract based on projected
utilization rate - 5 to 12 %
 This rate compared to actual rate of
usage for renewal
 Fee based EAP’s may be better
 conflict of interest of administrator
 hidden targets
HYLTON 12

13. Reasonable Cost
 EAP costs fraction of average medical
or dental plan
 $200 per ee per mo for Dental
insurance
 $5 per ee per mo for EAP
HYLTON 13

14. Some Employer’s Negative
Perception
 not seen as being essential
 “It’s a frill we don’t need it” … “our ees
are not mental cases”
 wrong – EAP’s deal with a broad range of
issues
 “there are other public sector counselling
resources for employees to use, and they
are free”
 wrong – Psychologists, public crisis lines,
other agencies may not be the right fit
HYLTON 14

15. Best thing about EAP’s for
the Employee
 immediacy of access – 24/7 - after
hours availability not disrupt work
day
 no cost to see senior clinical
counsellor
 For exec, coaching very valuable
 resources available NOW
HYLTON 15

16. Improve Corp Health
 employers show employees they care at
very modest cost
 EAP = barometer of corporate health
 Indicator of possible management issues
in certain departments
 Competitive Advantage
 Reduction in stress enables staff to be
more courteous, creative, stay on task
longer
 Happier employees = better cust serv
HYLTON 16

17. Reducing Absenteeism
 15% of staff cause 90%
of absenteeism
 emotional factors
contribute to 60% of lost
time
 Stats Can indicates that
the typical ee is absent 8
days a year
 Ers spend close to 6% of
payroll on absenteeism
HYLTON 17

18. Turnover Reduced
 Personal and personality factors
account for over two thirds of all
terminations
 Only 15% are due to staff’s inability
to do the job
 EAP helps employees resolve
personal issues before termination is
necessary
HYLTON 18

19. Reduced Claims
 Anti-depressants are
often # 1 of all Rx -
10% or more
 STD & LTD plans
 Some carriers give a
discount where an
EAP is in place
HYLTON 19

20. Productivity 10% to 15% of
employees have serious
personal problems
(Source: Cdn Mental
Health)
 Of these productivity is
a third below normal
 Results in loss of
productivity of up to 5%
of payroll
 Impact > due to the
disruption to other ees
HYLTON 20

21. Accident / Illness
 Lost time due to
accident or illness
 Stress contributes
large %
 EAP can reduce
 Link to return to
work strategies
 Counselling not
meds
 Claim Cost
HYLTON 21

22. Prevention
Best Medicine
 early intervention essential
 much more effective than waiting ‘till the
situation is worse
 Like physical disabilities you are perhaps
more familiar with
 If mentally employees believe “I am
disabled” is their natural state - difficult to
cure
 “I am temporarily having some difficulties
that I with help of the EAP I will be able
to overcome!”
HYLTON 22

23. Stitch in time
 little things add up
 deal with early before full
depression
 early counselling
 not only helps ee, but it
also improves ee
performance
 EAP deals with these
issues at less cost than
costly drug therapy which
may simply mask issue
HYLTON 23

24. Trends: VIP Coaching
 lonely at the top, executives subject to
same stressors to emotional life as rest of
us
 EAP’s sometimes do a poor job with this
group
 Confidentiality is an issue
 Offsite, not accessed by other staff
 Short treatment model of 4-5 sessions
usually relaxed for this group
 Fee for service & unlimited # of sessions
HYLTON 24

25. Trends:
D&A Policy / Link to EAP
 Have a D&A Policy, clearly communicated
 Communication with Supervisors Essential
 Problem of enabling
 Half day sessions are important
 Organization support systems
 Procedures
 Provides supervisors with tools to do what
is right
HYLTON 25

26. D&A Link to EAP
 Controlled drinking
sessions
 DOT regulations for
substance abuse
 Substance abuse
Professional (SAP) part
of EAP
 Testing done by various
agencies including
Columbia Health &
Millard Health
HYLTON 26

27. Alcohol or Drugs involved in
up to 50% spousal abuse
20-35% Suicides 50% Traffic
fatalities
Alcohol &
62% Assaults other drugs 49% Murders
52% Rapes 68% Manslaughter
Charges
38% Child abuse 69% Drownings
Source: Tico Vega and Hope Mitchell, REACH Peer Education
HYLTON 27

28. Link to Benefit Program
 Most insured benefit plans provide
for up to $500 in psychological
counselling per covered individual
per year
 Change your definition to include
EAP counsellors (social workers) to
supplement EAP program
HYLTON 28

29. Trauma, Violence, Critical
Incident
 Great interest in this aspect of EAP
 immediate response in first 24 hours
helpful to diffuse the situation
 “your response is perfectly understandable &
normal” , very effective in preventing post
traumatic stress disorder (shell shock)
 Se 11 classed as Mental Health Epidemic
 Deaths 700 from one employer, 400
firefighters
 Huge spike in EAP use in affected areas
HYLTON 29

30. What we learned from CI’s
 Don’t do anything special just
do your job
• just react, surf
• manuals useless
• 48 hours
 Bank robberies
 Distinct stages
 Airline Crashes
 Books for kids on death
 Manuals useless
 Don’t assume your EAP staff
will all be avail
 Take time off after
HYLTON 30

31. Sept 11 impact in Canada
 Sept 11, particularly troublesome for
those who lived through wars, parents of
employees
 Bethany Care, Pastoral Care group
counselling very effective
 Added new syndrome, Anticipatory
Anxiety
 Combined with added workplace stress
means even more reason for EAP’s
HYLTON 31

32. Bottom Line
 EAP used to be
deemed a nice add
on
 Now moved to
Essential category
 EAP moved from
being one tool, to
assisting
employers
MANAGE the whole
response
HYLTON 32

33. The High Cost of Stress
 Ees missed avg of 7.8 days for illness or
family reasons in ‘99
 Daily 20% of Canadian ees suffer from
personal or emotional problems severe
enough to cause injury, absenteeism or
reduced productivity
 2M Canadian ees suffer hypertension or
high blood pressure
 1M Canadian ees experience insomnia
regularly
HYLTON 33

34. Stress
 70 million prescriptions for tranquilizers
were written for Canadians in ‘98
 alcoholism costs Canadian business $1.6
billion annually
 3.2 million workdays and $590 million in
wages and benefits are lost annually to
heart-related diseases
 80% of problems treated by family
doctors are stress and psychosomatic
cases
Source: Canadian Institute of Stress
HYLTON 34

35. Stress – Depression
 Twice as likely to miss
work
 Ees with depression 7x
less likely to be
effective when they are
at work
 “presenteeism”
Source: Am Journal of Psychiatry
May 2001
HYLTON 35

36. Stress Japan
Korojisatsu
35000
30000
25000
20000
Japan
15000
10000
5000
0
90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 0 1
Source: S. Shima, TKU
HYLTON 36

37. Organizational Stress
GRACE HOSPITAL
 Grace faced closure, we did EAP, asked
for options
 Rumours as to date, who would be let go,
little information
 Organization became paralyzed
 Poor morale, little communications
between departments
 Group counselling sessions successful
 still, those that needed counselling most did
not attend
HYLTON 37

38. .
Role of HR re EAP
HYLTON 38

39. Inspector HR
Lois, has been a competent, motivated employee for the 12
years she has worked for you. You have increasingly noticed
errors in her work. She has not responded to your notes
asking her to "meet and discuss," and claimed to be
preoccupied by some unspecified health problem when you
approached her recently.
Lois works primarily in the field, so it is difficult to directly
monitor her performance. Several times during the past two
months, clients that Lois was scheduled to visit have called
looking for her.
You figured she was probably just running late the first time,
but with the second and third calls you finally approached her
expressing concern. As you begin to speak with her, the
smell of alcohol on her breath is unmistakable and her eyes
appear glassy. HYLTON 39

40. What are the
performance problems?
There is an increase in Lois' error rate ?
Lois is avoiding meeting with you ?
informally
She is not showing up for scheduled ?
appointments with agencies
Lois has the smell of alcohol on her ?
breath and has glassy eyes
HYLTON 40

41. Performance
There is an increase in Lois' error rate. Yes
(It is important to identify and document
errors)
Lois is avoiding meeting with you informally. Yes
(Document errors)
She is not showing up for scheduled Yes
appointments with agencies. (Document)
Lois has the smell of alcohol on her breath No
and has glassy eyes. (Medical conditions may
cause these symptoms) HYLTON 41

42. Cost Benefit of EAP
 Royal Bank study 13 to 1 payback
 One Er reported a 30% decrease in
accidents and 40% decrease in sick benefit
use for employees who used the EAP
 An EAP audit revealed that 54% of EAP
users would have been away from work 3.3
days more over the year
 One Er reported for every $1 spent on the
EAP, $7 to $11 was saved on absenteeism,
LTD premiums, and health premiums
HYLTON 42

43. HYLTON 43

44. EAP Trends
 greater EAP usage today than 10 years ago,
due to awareness
 The rate of utilization for non capped EAPs
was about 4% - 6% 15 years ago
 Grown to 6 - 8% for well publicized plans
today
 Can go up to 10% - 12% utilization for
employees or organizations undergoing
transition, mergers takeovers (25% Edm)
 Part of overall health and emergency
management of employer
HYLTON 44

45. Number of Sessions
 program caps of 4 or 5 sessions
 create incomplete treatment scenario
 internal targets may prevent employers
from getting what they pay for
 studies have shown that in North
America, the average no of sessions for
ALL types of therapists is 4 - 5
 Allow unlimited?
HYLTON 45

46. Number of Sessions
 the focus should be on hiring competent
counsellors
 allow them to see their clients without
restriction, most EAP providers will not
take the risk
 the 10 session clients will be offset by the
1 session client, to average out at 4- 5
 proactive supervision of counsellors is key
in the open-ended model
HYLTON 46

47. Trends
Web Counselling
 like telephone counselling
 has proven very effective
 Initial fears
 Licensing
 confidentiality
 not everyone can meet face to face
 remote locations
 time constrained
 counselling chat rooms
 Favoured by youth
HYLTON 47

48. Trends
Web Counselling
 email record of sessions, chats, to refer to
over time
 alternative source of help when face to
face sessions or telephone contacts are
not convenient
 break down call reluctance
 may be room for this at your organization
 one more tool to reach ees - expats
HYLTON 48

49. Violence in the workplace
source: Bureau of justice statistics national crime victimization survey
Rates of Violence in 5 Years Per 1000
workers (1992 - 1996)
250
200
150 Series1
100 Series2
50
0
Taxi Driver
U. teacher
MH Prof.
Corrections
Bartender
Teacher
Elem.
HYLTON
Officer 49

50. Thank you!
HYLTON 50