The Evolution of EAPs
Employee assistance programs (EAPs) seem to be undergoing an evolution. When introduced in the late 1970s, EAPs focused mainly on work-related problems such as substance abuse and depression. These days, there’s a blurring of lines as some EAPs are integrated with other programs, perhaps foreshadowing the decline of stand-alone EAPS.
Some firms, for example, have begun to merge their EAP and managed behavioral healthcare functions. “There has been enormous growth in the last few years in ‘integrated EAP/managed care’ products,” writes Ken Collins in the May 2000 issue of EAPA Exchange. According to one source, enrollment in stand-alone EAPs increased by an annual average of 6% through the 1990s while enrollment in integrated products increased at a rate of 32%. Joan Pearson, a partner at Towers Perrin, agrees that there’s movement toward integrating EAPs with behavioral health benefits, and she cites several reasons for this: the preventive aspects of EAPs, the continuity of care a merged service can offer and the reduced cost of a single point of access and administration. Pearson expects this type of integration to extend to behavioral health disability management as well.
There’s also been a convergence of EAP and work/life programs. A work/life survey conducted by William M. Mercer Inc. and Bright Horizons Family Solutions found that 13% of more than 420 responding employers offered such integrated EAPs, which provide “life cycle resource and referral” services. Mercer expects the percentage of employers offering such integrated EAPs to rise. Jon Van Cleve, a work/life consultant for Hewitt Associates, notes that although “it’s a fairly new concept, there is a lot of discussion among our clients surrounding making administration easier for all of their programs ... using as few vendors as possible.”
Business & Health magazine reports that Ernst & Young merged its EAP and work/life services in May of 1999, creating its EY/Assist program. The company chose to have two separate vendors deliver the services. The division between the two vendors is seamless, however, not only to employees but also to EY/Assist director Sandra Turner. By calling one toll-free number, employees can address such issues as academic and financial aid referrals, adoption issues, chemical dependency, childcare and eldercare referrals, financial and credit problems, and emotional and stress-related concerns. The EAP vendor is the employee’s first point of contact; phone calls are then referred to the appropriate specialist.
“By being holistic, we can provide resources of both services based on one event,” says Turner. This seems to have increased the impact of the program. Calls from employees doubled as soon as the EAP and work/life services were merged. Turner attributes the increased usage to having a single number for all kinds of assistance. She believes one number removes the stigma attached to seeking help for mental health issues. In addition, EY/Assist costs 17% less to run than the two separate programs. Turner deals with only one program administrator now and pays only one bill -- totaling about $24 per employee per year.
Ann Vincola, senior partner of corporate work/life consulting at Knowledge Beginnings, predicts that the lines between health promotion, employee assistance and work/life programs will continue to blur in the years ahead. EAP Digest quotes Dan Conti, first vice-president and EAP director at Bank One, as saying that “stand alone or ‘siloed’ EAPs will fade away in the future.”
“I think it comes down to the organization’s needs,” says Jim O’Hair, administrator of the Employee and Family Assistance Program for Baltimore-based Northrop Grumman Corp.’s electronics, sensors and systems sector. Integrating Northrop Grumman’s EAP with various work/life services made sense “because of the history of our own programs,” says O’Hair in Business Insurance magazine. The company’s 21-year-old in-house EAP had always offered some work/life services, such as help with marital and other family-related issues, so adding the word “family” to its employee assistance program in 1998 and offering expanded work/life services through this program was not that big a leap. “For some organizations, it makes all the sense in the world” to integrate programs, says O’Hair. But, he concedes, integration may not be right for every firm.
Starbucks Coffee Co. is one such organization. Annette King, director of benefits, says that the firm is content to offer separate programs. The EAP is the front door for mental health and chemical dependency counseling and referrals. The company’s EAP services provider, Magellan Behavioral Health, works with the company’s medical plan to provide “seamless transition” into the medical plan from the EAP, if necessary, she explains. A separate company, Working Solutions Inc., provides Starbucks employees with work/life services such as childcare and eldercare referrals, vacation planning information and other concierge services. There are two different 800 numbers for these services, but King says that Starbucks hasn’t had any problems with confused employees or misdirected calls.
====================================================
To learn more about the Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA), visit
http://www.eap-association.com/.
The following articles were used to help write this TrendWatcher:
Bingaman, David B. and Diane Stephenson. "Employee Assistance in the New Millennium." EAP Digest, Winter 1999, pp. 27-36.
Collins, Ken. "The Integration of EAPs and Managed Care: Who's Wagging Whom?" EAPA Exchange, May 2000, pp. 29-30.
"EAPs Work Best When Integrated with Other Wellness Programs." Employee Relations Bulletin, May 15, 1999, pp. 1-3.
Lippman, Helen. "This Is Not Your Father's EAP." Business & Health, December 1999, p. 42.
Roberts, Sally. "Integrating EAPs, Work/Life Programs Holds Advantages." Business Insurance, June 26, 2000, pp. 3, 18.
Some firms, for example, have begun to merge their EAP and managed behavioral healthcare functions. “There has been enormous growth in the last few years in ‘integrated EAP/managed care’ products,” writes Ken Collins in the May 2000 issue of EAPA Exchange. According to one source, enrollment in stand-alone EAPs increased by an annual average of 6% through the 1990s while enrollment in integrated products increased at a rate of 32%. Joan Pearson, a partner at Towers Perrin, agrees that there’s movement toward integrating EAPs with behavioral health benefits, and she cites several reasons for this: the preventive aspects of EAPs, the continuity of care a merged service can offer and the reduced cost of a single point of access and administration. Pearson expects this type of integration to extend to behavioral health disability management as well.
There’s also been a convergence of EAP and work/life programs. A work/life survey conducted by William M. Mercer Inc. and Bright Horizons Family Solutions found that 13% of more than 420 responding employers offered such integrated EAPs, which provide “life cycle resource and referral” services. Mercer expects the percentage of employers offering such integrated EAPs to rise. Jon Van Cleve, a work/life consultant for Hewitt Associates, notes that although “it’s a fairly new concept, there is a lot of discussion among our clients surrounding making administration easier for all of their programs ... using as few vendors as possible.”
Business & Health magazine reports that Ernst & Young merged its EAP and work/life services in May of 1999, creating its EY/Assist program. The company chose to have two separate vendors deliver the services. The division between the two vendors is seamless, however, not only to employees but also to EY/Assist director Sandra Turner. By calling one toll-free number, employees can address such issues as academic and financial aid referrals, adoption issues, chemical dependency, childcare and eldercare referrals, financial and credit problems, and emotional and stress-related concerns. The EAP vendor is the employee’s first point of contact; phone calls are then referred to the appropriate specialist.
“By being holistic, we can provide resources of both services based on one event,” says Turner. This seems to have increased the impact of the program. Calls from employees doubled as soon as the EAP and work/life services were merged. Turner attributes the increased usage to having a single number for all kinds of assistance. She believes one number removes the stigma attached to seeking help for mental health issues. In addition, EY/Assist costs 17% less to run than the two separate programs. Turner deals with only one program administrator now and pays only one bill -- totaling about $24 per employee per year.
Ann Vincola, senior partner of corporate work/life consulting at Knowledge Beginnings, predicts that the lines between health promotion, employee assistance and work/life programs will continue to blur in the years ahead. EAP Digest quotes Dan Conti, first vice-president and EAP director at Bank One, as saying that “stand alone or ‘siloed’ EAPs will fade away in the future.”
“I think it comes down to the organization’s needs,” says Jim O’Hair, administrator of the Employee and Family Assistance Program for Baltimore-based Northrop Grumman Corp.’s electronics, sensors and systems sector. Integrating Northrop Grumman’s EAP with various work/life services made sense “because of the history of our own programs,” says O’Hair in Business Insurance magazine. The company’s 21-year-old in-house EAP had always offered some work/life services, such as help with marital and other family-related issues, so adding the word “family” to its employee assistance program in 1998 and offering expanded work/life services through this program was not that big a leap. “For some organizations, it makes all the sense in the world” to integrate programs, says O’Hair. But, he concedes, integration may not be right for every firm.
Starbucks Coffee Co. is one such organization. Annette King, director of benefits, says that the firm is content to offer separate programs. The EAP is the front door for mental health and chemical dependency counseling and referrals. The company’s EAP services provider, Magellan Behavioral Health, works with the company’s medical plan to provide “seamless transition” into the medical plan from the EAP, if necessary, she explains. A separate company, Working Solutions Inc., provides Starbucks employees with work/life services such as childcare and eldercare referrals, vacation planning information and other concierge services. There are two different 800 numbers for these services, but King says that Starbucks hasn’t had any problems with confused employees or misdirected calls.
====================================================
To learn more about the Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA), visit
http://www.eap-association.com/.
The following articles were used to help write this TrendWatcher:
Bingaman, David B. and Diane Stephenson. "Employee Assistance in the New Millennium." EAP Digest, Winter 1999, pp. 27-36.
Collins, Ken. "The Integration of EAPs and Managed Care: Who's Wagging Whom?" EAPA Exchange, May 2000, pp. 29-30.
"EAPs Work Best When Integrated with Other Wellness Programs." Employee Relations Bulletin, May 15, 1999, pp. 1-3.
Lippman, Helen. "This Is Not Your Father's EAP." Business & Health, December 1999, p. 42.
Roberts, Sally. "Integrating EAPs, Work/Life Programs Holds Advantages." Business Insurance, June 26, 2000, pp. 3, 18.