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Benefits and Pensions MonitorThe Shifting World Of EAPs A New Direction So what should EAP providers be doing? The first step is to abandon the onesize-fits-all, cookie-cutter approach to physical, mental, and social health and, instead, partner with individual client organizations to create customized, targeted, pro-active EAP, and wellness interventions that address each workforce’s particular challenges. Such partnerships begin with conducting in-depth workplace research – beginning with demographics. What is the average age of the workforce? Is that workforce mostly male or female? Blue collar or white collar? Skilled or non-skilled? You can’t look at an organization’s future without first understanding its present. Absenteeism and short- and long-term disability rates must also be examined. Are rates rising because of workplace accidents or injuries, health and wellness issues, or workplace issues? What chronic diseases are most affecting the company? If these rates are increasing now, you can be sure they will continue to do so if the root causes are not dealt with today. What about drug costs? Are they going through the roof? What kind of medications are being prescribed? What about EAP utilizations? What services are most accessed? Again, these costs will continue to rise if left unaddressed and they cannot be addressed without knowing what is most affecting employee health and wellness and, beyond that, their preferred method of accessing help and support. A New Future With a clear picture of the demographic make-up of a workforce and the issues that are presently affecting productivity, the next step is to discover what future physical and mental issues will strain resources. This can be achieved with an in-depth Health Risk Assessment (HRA). HRAs are a powerful tool. They are far more than personalized appraisals of health risks for individuals. They are a way to uncover emerging health issues that will most affect tomorrow’s prescription drug costs, absenteeism, skills loss, and disability rates. An HRA assesses, either on-line or with a hard copy, an individual’s personal health risks based on lifestyle, behaviours, family history, current medical data, and environmental influences. Users then receive detailed information and support to help reduce risks to their future health. A good HRA tool will provide opportunities to set goals and track progress. General, non-identifying data is collected into a report that provides an overall snapshot of an organization’s workforce health. This is data that cannot be measured in other ways as HRAs report on lifestyle issues such as eating habits, activity levels, alcohol use, sun exposure, stress levels, and resilience. A first-rate HRA will also measure users’ willingness to make behavioural changes. Equipped with all this information, an EAP provider can then assist in tailoring a comprehensive, customized, and strategic health and wellness plan that targets not only present needs, but future challenges. Being strategic allows dollars allocated for employee health to be spent wisely and provides the greatest return on investment. Being strategic also means addressing organizational health as well as employee health. EAPs should help companies create and maintain a healthy psychosocial environment. This will be tough because managers and human resource professionals are no longer dealing with one homogenous workforce. They need support in understanding the complexities of an increasingly multi-generational, diverse, and global staff. They need guidance in developing creative and innovative policies, programs, and procedures that will not only maximize the present and future physical, social, and mental health of young and old alike, but will attract and retain the best and brightest. Brave New World Technological advances in our wired society will continue to happen at the speed of light and EAPs must be more open to new ways of delivering services that appeal to all generations while at the same time offering opportunity to access programs in a manner that encourages de-stigmatization of mental health issues. Programs designed for individuals will still be preferred by older workers, but tomorrow’s employees won’t necessarily access information on their own because they’ve been hard-wired to work and play in groups. They’re also extremely comfortable with cutting-edge technologies and are more likely to seek help electronically. Therefore, EAPs need to be creative and become technologically innovative. For example, most providers already offer e-counselling, although it’s still in its infancy. Are there appropriate ways to offer confidential group e-counselling and support alongside confidential individual e-counselling? Can web-cams and instant messaging be utilized to deliver counselling or practical advice? EAP providers need to look to podcasts, webinars, self-assessments, and more interactive tools that provide solid information while, at the same time, engage younger workers. As new technologies and approaches emerge, EAPs must be quick to evaluate them. Today’s fullservice EAP providers walk a fine line between introducing new technologies and access points to the wired generation while continuing to focus on traditional strengths of delivering confidential, personal interventions in a clinically appropriate, timely fashion. As EAP providers, we must lead, not follow, the march into a brave new world of organizational health and wellness. ■
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Sean Slater is national practice director – EAP and organizational wellness for Ceridian Canada