RSS 1.0Employee Assistance Archive School of Social Work
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The University of Maryland School of Social Work – the only social work program with a dedicated Employee Assistance (EA) curriculum as part of the larger MSW program – hosts the Employee Assistance Digital Archive.
The Employee Assistance Digital Archive is a free, publicly accessible site where EA professionals can post original works, historical documents or other related papers. The intent of the Archive is to preserve important historical documents in the EA field as well as to provide a national depository for all significant articles in the field.
Please visit our Employee Assistance Digital Archive Homepage to learn about how you can submit and use the Archive.
Recent Submissions
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EAPs: Removing the margin of error in mental healthOne silver lining of the pandemic has been the growing acceptance of mental health care by the public. Thanks to COVID, this national health crisis was forced into the spotlight as heightened anxiety, social isolation, provider shortages, and other pressures overburdened a system that was already struggling. Fortunately, these concerns resulted in action. On the public side, the federal government introduced a sweeping plan for behavioral health care to the tune of $51.7B over 10 years. In addition, states like Massachusetts are now funding programs to divert emergency room visitors with mental health issues to community mental health centers. On the private side, the focus on workplace mental health has been dramatically sharpened. Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are being bolstered significantly while new telehealth players are rushing in to exploit the growing market demand. (Mostly venture-backed, these splashy new mental health players raised over $6B in VC funds during the pandemic alone.) While EAPs and health plans have long been central to workplace mental health, these digital disruptors are adding a third access point.
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How to Respond to Drinking on the JobWhen an employer suspects a worker has been drinking on the job or is intoxicated at work, it should respond to ensure the safety of the employee, their co-workers and customers. That response may entail doing a quick investigation and having a conversation with the employee, along with possibly sending them for breath alcohol testing and escorting them home. Discipline can range from a final written warning to suspension without pay to immediate termination, said Debra Friedman, an attorney with Cozen O'Connor in Philadelphia. Investigate and Develop an Initial Response - Employers should first confirm the suspicion that an employee has been drinking, said James Reidy, an attorney with Sheehan Phinney in Manchester, N.H. Is the suspicion based on rumor? Is it based on the employee's attendance after a long weekend? Is it based on observation by others, such as a co-worker seeing an employee drinking in a car, on break or at lunch? Is it because of the smell of alcohol on or around the employee? Or is the employee slurring words, having difficulty with motor skills or falling asleep at work? Employers need to make sure there's not some other reason, such as a reaction to medication or a medical condition such as Parkinson's disease or narcolepsy. "While drinking on the job or coming in to work under the influence of alcohol is never acceptable, it is more of a problem in some jobs—for example, truck driver, pilot, school bus driver [and] forklift operator," Reidy said.
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A Potential Downside to Remote Work? Higher Rates of DepressionRemote and hybrid work have become highly desired workplace perks, with plenty of research showing their advantages. In fact, employees who work remotely often say they're happier, more productive and more likely to stay with their employer. But new research shows there's at least one drawback to these arrangements: Remote and hybrid workers tend to experience higher rates of mental health issues. Fully remote (40 percent) and hybrid work (38 percent) are associated with an increased likelihood of anxiety and depression symptoms compared to in-person work (35 percent), according to an analysis by the Integrated Benefits Institute (IBI), an Oakland, Calif.-based nonprofit research organization. For its report, IBI analyzed data from the Household Pulse Survey, an online resource created by the U.S. Census Bureau to determine how households were impacted by the pandemic. IBI partnered with Elevance Health (formerly Anthem) to analyze claims data related to mental health. Although there isn't a massive disparity between in-person and remote workers' likelihood of depression and anxiety, it's an important difference that employers would be wise to pay attention to, researchers said. "The differences in prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms between hybrid, remote and onsite are statistically significant. Our research illustrates that remote work may not be the ideal solution for every employee," said Candace Nelson, director of research at IBI, adding that more exploration of the topic is needed.
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EASNA Code of EthicsThis Code is designed to provide a set of high standards for EAP practitioners and encourage conduct that will enhance the EA field’s mission, reinforce its values, and promote quality EA services.
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EASNA Standards and Accreditation History: SUMMARYThe purpose of this brief article is to document a significant series of events in the field of Employee Assistance. The intent is to recount, from collective memory, just how the EASNA accreditation process and standards, evolved.
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THE EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA EAP PROGRAM STANDARDS, rev 1998 - PART 1Founded in 1989 at a meeting of employee assistance professionals in Chicago, EASNA serves as an accrediting agent for employee assistance programs in North America. To do this, it provides an independent judgment which confirms whether or not a program is achieving its objectives and meeting the high professional standards set by the field. Launched in 1990 and updated in 1993, these Standards were again updated in January 1998 to reflect state-of-the-art refinements and additions to the original accreditation document.
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EAPA Code of EthicsThis Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA) Code of Ethics provides guidance regarding ethical conduct for employee assistance professionals (hereafter, EA professionals), and it defines the standards of ethical behavior for the benefit of their clients, both individual employees and employer organizations. This code will apply to the EA professional’s activities and relationships with employees, employers, unions, employee assistance colleagues, professionals from other disciplines, the local community and society as a whole.
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EAPA CEAP Code of ConductThis document outlines the standards of practice for Certified Employee Assistance Professionals (CEAP®s) which include: 1) the Client Bill of Rights, and 2) the CEAP® Code of Conduct.
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Employee Assistance Programs are Poised to ‘Level Up’ in the Wake of the PandemicIt’s time for more employee assistance, not less. I have been a professional working in the behavioral health field for over 22 years. I think I speak for many of my colleagues when I say these are unprecedented times. It is a substantially different world than when I cut my teeth in the industry. Go back 20 years and compare any given organization’s typical needs to their needs today. It’s almost inconceivable to grasp conditions on the ground in 2022 through a 2002 lens. In 2022, it’s clear that prevailing models of care, pathways for helping and the workplace experience have changed. Three factors have come together to form a perfect behavioral health storm. This storm will challenge the landscape of behavioral health as we currently know it and push our care system(s) to the limit.
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Disrupting Violence: The Role of EAPs in Workplace SafetyEmployee Assistance Programs (EAPs) change over time, not unlike the people and organizations they serve. The risk of workplace violence (WPV) is a real danger that employees and organizations are challenged to manage on a regular basis. According to the US Department of Labor and OSHA, workplace violence is defined as “any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site.” This may take the form of verbal or written threats, verbal abuse, physical assault, or homicide. Unfortunately, the daily threat of experiencing some form of workplace violence is all too real for many employees. WPV services offer EAPs an opportunity to expand their operational tool kits and provide added value to the organizations they serve.
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Learn the Eight Dimensions of WellnessSAMHSA, 2016-04Each dimension of wellness can affect overall quality of life. Through its Wellness Initiative, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) encourages individuals, organizations, and communities to work toward longer, healthier, and happier lives, particularly among people living with behavioral health conditions. The Eight Dimensions of Wellness take into account not only an individual’s physical health, but all the factors that contribute to a person’s overall wellness.
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Wyoming SPF-PFS Annual Report: Strategic Prevention Framework – Partnerships for Success Fiscal Year 2022This report summarizes the state-level accomplishments of the Wyoming Department of Health - Public Health Division (WDH-PHD) through Wyoming’s Strategic Prevention Framework- Partnerships for Success (SPF-PFS) grant for the grant year of 2021-2022, which spanned from August 31, 2021 through August 30, 2022. This is the second year of the five-year SPF-PFS grant awarded for 2020-2025, which is administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and supports and advances community-driven efforts in substance use prevention. The substances specifically targeted by Wyoming’s SPF-PFS grant are underage alcohol use and youth and young adult marijuana use. WDH-PHD has distributed SPF- PFS funding to 22 Wyoming counties (subrecipients) through WDH-PHD’s CPG system. In addition, WDH- PHD has partnered with OMNI Institute (OMNI) to evaluate the SPF-PFS grant efforts and provide evaluation training and technical assistance to the 22 funded counties.
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From Post-Traumatic Stress to Post-Traumatic GrowthWith the pandemic no longer at crisis level where do we stand with respect to the struggles and the needs of physicians? Physician and peer coach Susan Wilson believes we are in recovery mode. In an illuminating article, she details statistics on the attitudes of nurses and physicians toward their jobs that are unexpectedly upbeat. Telehealth, which was massively mobilized during COVID, has proven itself a major aid to practitioners. At the same time, PTSD among them is a reality and so is short staffing and the resultant overwork. Other stressors that preceded the pandemic and made burnout a concern are with us as well. So is it a Great Recovery? Wilson isn’t certain, but she’s clear it’s looking positive. What is certain is there’s a “new normal” for workers in the healthcare industry and Wilson explores it, noting its upsides along with continuing problems. She puts this new normal in an illuminating new context: Post-Traumatic Growth, or PTG. This concept was born in the “positive psychology” movement which studies normalcy and happiness rather than mental and emotional dysfunction. PTG has been described as “a psychological transformation that follows a stressful encounter. It is a way of finding the purpose of pain and looking beyond the struggle.” Wilson provides a succinct introduction to the concept and how it might show healthcare leaders and physicians a way to turn the traumas of the past few years into growth and healing.
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2022 Well-Being in Healthcare: Trends & Insights2022 saw a continuation of impacts from COVID-19. However, a shift occurred at organizational and systemic levels where awareness of mental health challenges and a desire to "do something" for those in need gained importance. Key Takeaways: 1. Balancing the Budget. Organizations continue to struggle with how to support and budget for resources to promote mental and behavioral health. 2. Tipping the Burnout Scale. Licensure concerns create barriers when seeking help for mental health and well-being support. 3. Legislative and National Spotlights. New state and national laws, such as the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act, aim to reduce and prevent suicide, burnout and mental and behavioral health conditions among health care professionals.
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Mental Health Coaching from Employee Assistance Program Improves Depression and Employee Work Outcomes: Longitudinal Results from CuraLinc Healthcare 2020-2022This was an applied naturalistic study examining changes in work and clinical outcomes after using individual mental health coaching services from an employee assistance program in the United States. The data was from 872 employee users at CuraLinc Healthcare during the years 2020 to 2022. The coaching intervention included individual sessions that focused on helping the employee with personal goal setting, problem-solving and skill-building. Over two-thirds of clients engaged in coaching for support with mental health issues (anxiety 47%, depression 12% or other 9%) while others had issues of stress (19%), personal relationships (marital 8%, family 4%) or work (2%). The coaching was delivered online and usually lasted about five weeks. The study features a Pre to Post single-group research design with self-report data collected at the start of use and again at follow-up after the last session. Repeated measures ANOVA tests found significant improvement with each result being a large size statistical effect for the outcomes: work absenteeism hours were reduced by 88% (d=0.42); work productivity level was increased by 32% (d=0.79); severity of depression symptoms was reduced by 66% (d=0.67). Exploratory analyses indicated that improvement on outcomes was experienced consistently across different sub-groups of clients based on age, gender, employer and service use factors. Having an absence problem was reduced from 42% of all clients at Pre to 7% at Post. Specific hours of missed work in the past month (measured by the Workplace Outcome Suite) changed from 6.7 hours at Pre to less than 1 hour at Post. Employees with a problem with their work productivity (i.e., low performance and lack of focus, measured by Stanford Presenteeism Scale) was reduced from 27% of clients at Pre to 1% at Post. Among the subsample of clients initially with a work productivity problem, 94% achieved “reliable recovery” with a larger than chance level increase in their productivity score. The average total hours of absence and lost work productivity combined in the past month was reduced from 52.8 hours at Pre to 14.5 hours at Post. The percentage of all employees at-risk for clinical depression (measured by the PHQ-9) was reduced from 20% of coaching clients at Pre to zero at Post. Within this at-risk subgroup, 85% achieved “reliable recovery” such that the differences in their scores was greater than at chance level. Coaching services thus appear to be a viable alternative to counseling for employees interested in more goal-oriented, solution-focused type of support.
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5 Actions to Alleviate Anxiety QuicklyThis blog post offers five de-stressing strategies to alleviate one's anxiety quickly. The strategies discussed are: 1) Control your breathing 2) Try progressive muscle relaxation 3) Practice mindfulness meditation 4) Move your body and 5) Challenge your thoughts.
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How Can Organizations Improve Workplace Equity?This article recaps a recent report by the SHRM Research Institute and Work Equity, an initiative of the Center for Social Innovation at the Boston College School of Social Work. The report revealed the importance of equity in the workplace, the root causes of inequity and other DE&I-related findings that could help organizations create more-equitable workplaces.
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2023 Trends: Legalization of Recreational Marijuana and Therapeutic PsychedelicsThree more states legalized adult recreational marijuana use in 2022, and it may only be a matter of time before such use is legal across the country. Also growing in acceptance is the use of therapeutic psychedelics, such as psilocybin. Two states have legalized their use, some cities have decriminalized their use and more states may adopt laws legalizing them in the future. But while use of these drugs may be legal, employers still do not have to permit employees under their influence to work. This article discusses how these laws are causing change in the workplace.
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How to Train Young Managers to Supervise Older EmployeesPerhaps no one knows better than HR professionals that the workplace is aging, and teaching younger managers how to work effectively with older employees who report to them is becoming a critical workplace exercise. There are several drivers of this phenomenon. The pandemic that ripped many older workers from the workplace is easing—and with it, older workers are starting to return. At the same time, inflation and an impending recession have nudged many retired workers who are in need of extra income back into the workforce. In many cases, their managers are one or more decades younger than them. In fact, 4 in 10 employees say they have worked for a younger boss, according to a Harris Interactive survey conducted for CareerBuilder. Even more compelling: The fastest growing workplace demographic is employees age 65 and older, which leaves HR professionals with no option but to properly train these younger managers on how to uplift the older workers they supervise. To help with that effort, this article offers 10 tips for younger managers who work with older employees.
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Financial Return on EAPs 2023: Managing the Rise of Complexity and Employees at RiskIn the post-pandemic workplace, even more employees are making use of their EAP: the average usage figure has now topped 12%, compared with 11.4% last year (and the typical average from previous years of 10.4%). As a consequence, organizations are reporting more savings in terms of reduced staff absence and gains in productivity. Figures from the period between October 2021 and October 2022 show that for every £1.00 spent on an EAP in the UK, employers have seen an average ROI of £10.85. This com- pares with a previous average of £8.00 in the previous year, and £7.27 in 2019. Our evidence comes from HR professionals making use of the EAPA UK ROI calculator: the biggest data set on EAP usage, impact and financial re- turns in the UK: more than 4,100 calculations made via the EAPA UK ROI calculator since the beginning of 2019, representing anonymized information from 11 million employees.
