Needs Assessment for a University-Based Employee Assistance Program

Between 10-20 percent of the total employee population in any institution of higher education are troubled employees. The lack of visibility and the absence of structure, especially in faculty positions, are risk factors. Higher education has become proactive in developing Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) in response to organizational personnel problems. A needs assessment survey was conducted to ascertain the need for a university-based EAP in a state university in southern California. The findings suggested that EAP services were needed.     

Case Studies of Federal Occupational Health's EAP Responses to Natural Disasters

Summary

Employee assistance professionals have increasingly been called upon to address the emotional and mental health needs of customer organizations and their employees in response to large-scale natural or man-made disasters. In doing so, employee assistance program (EAP) professionals must use a repertoire of responses that encompasses a broad range of interventions, generally anchored in an understanding of and focus on the organization and its culture, mission, management and labor concerns, and other critical characteristics. The EAP's fallback response to a crisis affecting the workplace is often a critical incident stress debriefing or close variant of it. However, EAPs can best serve their customers at all levels with interventions attuned to an understanding of the workplace culture gained through a consultative relationship with management, while factoring in the nature of the disaster, the length of time and characteristics of the disaster's aftermath, and the nuances of the employees' physical and emotional needs throughout the entire disaster response and recovery process.

This article highlights these issues through the presentation of two case studies, gained from the hurricane response activities of the Federal Occupational Health (FOH) EAP. FOH, a service unit within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Program Support Center, has 60 years of experience working in partnership with its federal agency customers to deliver comprehensive occupational health services to improve the health, safety, and productivity of the federal workforce. FOH's EAP contracts with vendor organizations to provide direct employee assistance, work/life, and related services to more than 1.3 million federal employees. The first case study describes (from the first person perspective) an on-site, multi-focused EAP intervention at a federal facility. The second case study describes management consultation with the U.S. Postal Service in response to major hurricane activity.     

A Comprehensive Employee Assistance Program [EAP] for Educators

The traditional employee assistance programs [EAP] focus on early detection and assessment of the teacher at risk for a health-related disorder; the value, financial and human, of servicing the needs of the teacher already on leave with a health disabling condition tends to go unrecognized. This article proposes a wellness or employee assistance program with an empowerment focus that responds to both the preventative and the remedial needs of educators at different phases of their careers. Accountability to all stakeholders, based on a built-in evaluation, research and development process, is also emphasized.     

Total Quality Management of EAP Vendors

Employers are increasingly turning to benefits consulting firms to help them plan the management of employee mental health care costs. With evolving employee assistance and managed care programs, employers need to be "informed consumers." Direct marketing by EAP vendors is no longer the most effective business strategy. Most employers want to get an impartial third party opinion on what their needs are, the type of program(s) best suited to their organization and which vendor can best meet those needs. Quality and cost are of primary concern. This article addresses the specific elements that are examined by a benefits consultant in review and selection of EAP vendors with a particular emphasis on total quality management.     

Cultural Issues in South African EAPs

Cultural identity is at the core of the current sociopolitical changes taking place in South Africa. Similarly, EAP practice is fraught with obstacles that are culturally based, involve language barriers, traditional versus contemporary medicine, and even the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. This articlc examines some of he cultural concerns facing black and white EAP practitioners and clients alike.     

A Brief Overview of Research Techniques Used to Evaluate Three Employee Assistance Programs Through the Family Service Association of Metropolitan Toronto Experience

This article describes three models of Employee Assistance Program (EAP) evaluations used by the Family Service Association of Metropolitan Toronto, a major provider of national EAPs in Canada. Each EAP and their subsequent evaluation is tailored to the specific needs of the different organizations. Example l focuses on a case by case review. Example 2 describes a method of determining how well the EAP reaches troubled employees and comments on the effectiveness of the intervention. Example 3 describes how a simple but effective user survey provides information for evaluation purposes. These three evaluation models are examples of how EAPs and their evaluations respond to the uniqueness of various organizations and their respective client groups.     

Putting the pieces together for queer youth: a model of integrated assessment of need and program planning

Needs assessments require staff with the necessary expertise to design the study, collect the data, analyze the data, and present results. They require money, time, and persistence, because the people one wishes to assess often are difficult to access. This article argues for the centrality of a well-done needs assessment when developing services for LGBTQ youth. Needs assessment methodology and adjunctive uses of the needs assessment data also are discussed. The authors present a needs assessment of LGBTQ youth living in out-of-home care in San Diego, California, as an example of the purpose, practicality, and power of a comprehensive needs assessment. The needs assessment identified several issues, as well as additional data supporting the project's necessity. The data also identified the most significant obstacles youth face in accessing housing and supportive services. Through the data collection process, non-LGBT housing providers better understood their need for additional training, and housing and city leadership communities obtained and spread knowledge of the project.     

Usability requirements for buildings: a case study on primary schools

This paper concerns an applied research aimed at applying the concept of usability, as derived form the standard ISO 9241/11, in the filed of building design, namely primary schools. Starting from the concept that space characteristics play a very relevant role in learning performances, the study presented here developed an original methodology for the assessment of effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction of buildings hosting primary schools, in order to create a school environment better supporting users in their tasks. Research core is the framework of usability requirements and their related markers, indicators and technical specification that has been formulated in order to check compliance of urban area, building, rooms and architectural details with users needs. Therefore, a detailed task analysis of pupils and teacher tasks has been carried out and two questionnaires addressed to a significant users panel have been formulated for satisfaction survey. Lastly, a matrix for an overall reading of gathered data has been set-up and criteria for usability assessment based on that data has been defined. The whole study has been developed within the case study of a primary school in the Naples city centre, whose contents and results are discussed.     

Federal Government EAPs and Total Quality Management:

In the federal government, total quality management (TQM) principles have been actively supported and encouraged since the Reagan administration. The EAP Consortium administered by Federal Occupational Health, a Division of the U.S. Public Health Service, Region IX, has had unique opportunities to implement total quality improvement principles. In an era of budget constraints and limited resources, it is a never ending dynamic process to achieve a better understanding of Federal agencies and to continually innovate EAP products and processes to remain customer focused. This article explores the challenges of satisfying customer needs and expectations by continuously working across the organization to improve external and internal processes.     

Chapter 2: The Business Case for the Integration of Employee Assistance,Work-Life and Wellness Services

SUMMARY

Employee assistance programs (EAP), work-life programs and wellness programs are three commonly provided kinds of interventions that have the goals of reducing healthcare costs, improving employee performance and fostering a healthier workplace culture. The integration of these kinds of programs is a recent trend that has the potential to offer additional synergistic benefits. New studies have linked comprehensive delivery services that support human capital needs with bottom-line financial success of the company. This evidence can be used to make the business case for offering EAP, work-life and wellness services in an integrated capacity. However, while promising, the scientific evidence thus far in this area has methodological limitations and there are critical aspects that require further study.     

An Elder Care Training Needs Assessment Among Employee Assistance Program Staff

A mail survey of 95 EAP staff members explored the issue of elder care (employee informal care and company formal policy) and collected data pertinent to training needs, competence to handle employed caregiver problems/questions, and company commitment. Major findings were: (1) EAP staff members estimated that one in five employees currently provides care for an older dependent; (2) most (74.5%) staff have not received any training relevant to elder care; (3) self-assessed competence to handle elder care problems was low for 14 of 17 problem-solving domains constituting the Elder Care Competence Index (ECCI), less than half of the respondents felt competent; (4) the few (13.8%) EAP staff members with extensive (2 or more sessions) elder care-specific training experience achieved ECCI scores nearly double those of other workers, p < .01; (5) most (78.8%) companies have not dealt with the issue in any formal way and only 7.6% of their EAP staff believe this inaction to be appropriate; and (6) company commitment (i.e., formal policy- issue studied, offered programs/services or benefits) is directly related to EAP training (p < .01) and consequently to staff competence ( < .05). The implications for training, policy, and future research are discussed.     

EAP Benefit and Cost Structure Analysis:

This presentation is a review of basic estimation methods geared for assessment of service benefit and cost structure of employee assistance programs (EAPs). The methodologies specify how various benefit and cost items can be organized and measured in dollar figures in order to translate effects of the EAP and operating cost distribution patterns. Based on the calculations, EAPs may assess cost saving patterns and avoid becoming a financial liability to the company. The estimation of benefit/cost ratios can be utilized for establishing program accountability and planning purposes. The methodologies presented in this chapter are at an introductory level. They are geared for EAP personnel and social work students interested in EAPs who have minimal familiarity with cost and benefit structure analysis.     

Workplace Problems and Needs for Lesbian and Gay Male Employees

Abstract

This article presents research findings pursuant to the problems and needs of lesbian and gay male employees, as perceived from a randomly selected national sample of employee assistance professionals. The research was based on a conceptual model for framing workplace interventions addressing issues of protection, inclusion and equity (PIE) for gay/lesbian employees. Findings indicate that heterosexual employees greatly underestimate the level of discrimination sexual minorities experience; women respondents were more sensitive to gay/ lesbian workplace issues than men; existing EAP and human resource services, programs and policies inadequately address gay/lesbian needs; significant differences exist between heterosexual and gay/lesbian employees' on perceptions of diversity training content and gay/lesbian EAP professionals feel the workplace is only somewhat “safe” for them as sexual minority employees.     

Evaluation of an employee assistance program at a transportation company

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) in terms of selected work performance indicators and treatment outcomes. Three primary data sources were utilized: a questionnaire administered to EAP users, reports from EAP counsellors on treatment diagnoses and outcomes, and employee records on absenteeism and other performance criteria over a five year time period. On the whole, EAP clients reported very favourable outcomes regarding the quality of services and improved well being, and the counsellors reported successful treatment outcomes. However, employee records on performance outcomes indicated that EAP clients had higher rates of problems before, during and after treatment, compared to a matched control group. Additionally, rates of sick days significantly increased from before to after treatment among EAP users.     

The Utility of Personality Inventories in the Employee Assistance Process

Abstract

A study was conducted to assess the usefulness of objective measures of personality in (a) the identification of employees in need of an employee assistance program (EAP) and (b) the evaluation of employee mental health change as a result of EAP participation. In addition, comparisons of EAP referred and non-referred employees were made on race, sex, age, and performance variables. MMPI, CPI, and SRA-Verbal Form test data from all or part of a sample of 376 police officers referred for fitness-for-duty evaluations were used in various analyses. Many of the officers were reassessed following an EAP intervention, while others chose not to accept the intervention (forming a natural control group). It was found that the MMPI-2 has the potential utility in both the identification and evaluation stages of the EAP process. Males and black employees were found to more likely to be referees to an EAP. Finally, it was found that referred employee performance was more than a half a standard deviation lower than that of non-referred employees.     

Chapter 5: Perspectives on the Integration of Employee Assistance and Work-Life Programs

SUMMARY

A recent qualitative study explored perceptions of critical issues and challenges from the point of view of experts and key informants working in diverse roles in the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) field (Sharar & Hertenstein, 2005). One of the central themes that came out of the study is that EAPs have become a type of platform for the expansion of integrated collateral services, chiefly work-life (WL) programs. This paper presents a variety of perceptions and opinions from experts in the EAP field, both pro and con, on the growing convergence of EA and WL programs, including the rationale to integrate, segregate, and concerns regarding the diffusion of traditional and core EAPs. The paper concludes with the authors? perspectives on implications for the EA field, along with the need to find ways to measure if and when integration leads to employee and organizational improvement.     

Experiences of internal and hybrid employee assistance program managers: Factors associated with successful,at-risk,and eliminated programs

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) originated as workplace-focused programs delivered largely by peer employees. Over the past 25 years, the once standard internal EAP has largely been replaced by internal/external hybrid programs or outsourced EAP vendors. Many long-standing internal programs have been downsized or eliminated, along with their internal program manager positions. This qualitative study examined the organizational, leadership, and programmatic characteristics associated with the internal and internal/hybrid EAPs from the perspectives of EAP managers working in programs that have thrived and those that have depreciated. Twenty-four current and former internal or internal/hybrid EAP managers were interviewed using a semistructured interview schedule. Qualitative methods were used to identify patterns and themes within the data to describe the experience of internal and internal/hybrid EAP managers and the critical success and risk factors associated with their positions and programs. Five final themes, with 15 subthemes emerged from the data, suggesting that both individual and organizational characteristics of EAP internal and hybrid programs are important to the program’s sustainability. These findings offer insights regarding best practices and critical success factors to EAP professionals, EAP purchasers, and the EAP industry.     

基于可持续原则的欧洲城市人性化发展的经验及启示

快速城市化背景下,我国城市的无序扩张,人性化场所和社会公平公正的缺失,以至于人们几乎忘记了城市存在的首要目的是保障社区的人性需求和社会需求。探求一种基于可持续准则的城市人性化发展的途径和方法,探讨为何对城市中人的关心,是成功获得更加充满活力的、安全的、可持续的且健康的城市的关键。重点介绍欧洲城市人性化发展的实践及方法策略与经验教训等,以期为我国人性化城市的塑造提供借鉴与参考。     

Assessing Employee Assistance Programs:

There is a great need for better understanding of an overall evaluation scheme of EAPs. The author presents four types or phases of EAP evaluation: (a) intervention planning; (b) program monitoring; (c) impact assessment; and (d) economic efficiency. Under this typology, seven common models of evaluation methods are elaborated with some procedural references: (1) need assessment; (2) program development; (3) utilization analysis; (4) outcome evaluation; (5) net effect assessment; (6) cost-benefit analysis; and (7) cost-effectiveness analysis.