Keeping work and home balanced – Europ Assistance SA’s new Integrated Employee Wellness Programme
2007/07/06
Finances, or the lack thereof, crime, abuse, ill health of a spouse or child … any one, or a combination of these, is enough to tip the stress scales and send an employee into a downward spiral of depression, and a consequent decrease in work performance and by this time it is often too late for an employee wellness programme to help.
Employee wellness or assistance programmes are not new to the South African workplace, but the changing needs of the employer and employee have initiated a focus towards improving existing programmes and addressing every aspect of the employees’ well-being in an integrated and pro-active manner.
The objective of any employee assistance programme is to identify and prevent problems before they become unmanageable and start affecting other aspects of the employee’s life.
“A good employee assistance programme though should take a holistic view and not only deal with issues at work,” says Cleoné Bakker, GM: Marketing at Europ Assistance SA.
“For many, issues at work take a back seat when one of two bread winners is retrenched and financial institutions are threatening law suits. It may not be up to the employer to bail them out, but what if the employer can help and still maintain a degree of non-interference?”
EAPs that will truly help are those that help an employee share the load, providing both a shoulder to cry on, and practical advice that goes a long way to solving the problems before they become unmanageable. These programmes should include comprehensive educational and awareness campaigns to ensure employee awareness and trust. This in turn allows those employees needing the services to feel confident enough to access the programme. The principles of self management, peer, as well as self referral is supported and promoted through such campaigns.
Some startling statistics reveal that psychological problems account for 61% of absence from work, 65% to 85% of terminations and 80% to 90% of industrial accidents, 90% of the South Africa population requires legal or financial advice and services and 70% of these people will not seek counselling due to the costs involved.
36% of employee thefts are directly related to drug problems or abuse. 20% of employees are either highly stressed or depressed and average a 49% higher health care cost.
“Yet a good EAP can result in a reduction on staff turnover by 35% in staff turnover and a 14% increase in productivity,” ends Cleoné.
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