Programa de Asistencia al Empleado, la clave del éxito empresarial
An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is an effective action plan to improve the working environment and increase the productivity of companies by providing psychological, legal or financial support to employees.
Much of an employee's productive time is taken up by mental health, physical, financial or family concerns. This type of programme is one way to improve employee wellbeing and productivity. In doing so, it also boosts business performance.
Promoting an Employee Assistance Programme involves providing employees with a range of benefits and support services to help them deal with personal or work-related problems. Typically, this includes confidential and safe counselling for employees on the challenges they face in their daily lives, with personalised counselling programmes, follow-up and referrals to specialists.
EAPs offer a wide range of services, but there are a few that stand out as the most requested by employees. The most important is psychological support, which provides immediate assistance from psychological professionals for mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, stress, gender-based violence and others. In this case, employees value the fact that the professional is external to the company in order to maintain the confidentiality of the support.
Accounting and/or financial counselling is also important, with certified counsellors offering advice on tax or personal and family economic issues. Another important benefit is the availability of lawyers, certified in the laws of the country concerned, to provide legal advice on family matters, daily life, contracts, consumption, etc.
Finally, nutritional support is one of the most sought-after benefits today, due to the growing concern and awareness of nutrition and its impact on health and general wellbeing. This benefit involves providing education and professional guidance to improve daily nutrition and incorporate healthy habits that have a positive impact on the quality of life of programme participants.
Some companies that offer EAPs extend this coverage to employees' family members 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Benefits of an Employee Assistance Programme
EAPs are an initiative that focuses on providing support to improve the overall health of employees. In this sense, it is also important to highlight the positive impact they can have on an organisation's performance.
The focus of the programme is to help employees feel better and improve their quality of life by providing support and solutions to everyday problems. In this way, it has an indirect impact on organisational wellbeing by helping to improve the general working environment, manage anxiety and stress, and increase attention span, among other key benefits.
At the same time, these changes increase productive performance, improve employee engagement and promote a healthy working environment within organisations. In addition, companies that have an EAP also increase their ability to attract and retain genuine and high quality talent, as some research has shown that the benefits of emotional stability and integration are more likely to be felt by employees in the workplace.
EAPs are a sure-fire way of promoting a healthy, productive and sustainable working environment for all concerned, but most importantly they offer a significant return on investment, demonstrating their value to both employees and organisations in the long term.