Employee Assistance Program

As an Employee Assistance Program (EAP ) is called HR programs on employee consultation by an external company.

General

While in the past have explicitly launched such programs in Germany few employers such as Siemens and SAP, EAP heard in the U.S. for everyday business in many companies. These programs were originally developed in the 1930s to assist employees with addiction problems.

Use

Nowadays, an EAP is being used specifically to qualified employees in professional and personal issues to be discussed. Important areas are here:

  • Advice on psychological stress in the workplace
  • Addiction Treatment
  • Conflict counseling
  • Advice on organizational problems ( eg childcare, care of relatives )
  • Work- life balance

Here, since health, business sociological and organizational problem areas can engage with each other, some companies now offer integrated consulting services with experts from different professions (doctors, psychologists, social workers, coaches ). From a business perspective, companies hope to gain from EAP - also with regard to demographic change - in particular the following advantages:

  • Increasing employee retention
  • Less absenteeism and associated reduction in failure costs
  • Higher productivity
  • Lower accident rates

As there are no mandatory standards for EAP in Germany, experts believe that in addition to many reputable service providers in this area if necessary, have been active with dubious offers. Counseling standards were formulated, inter alia, of the Employee Assistance Professionals Association.

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