Welcome to another episode of HR Party of One. I'm your host Ryan McCausland and I got a text last night from a friend who has two young children. He's working remotely and sheltering in place and the text said this parenting and working from home stuff is no joke.
Exhausting. Whether you're parenting and working from home or whether you're sick yourself. or have a family member who's been diagnosed with COVID-19, or whether you're just dealing with being isolated from the people that you're accustomed to spending your time with, this is a stressful time. Today, we're going to talk about what HR Parties of One can do to help their team cope with the stress that comes with all of this.
And, you know, we can't solve all of the problems, but we can offer some guidance. Specifically, we're going to talk about... how to help your team take advantage of an employee assistance program or an EAP. Now, with the stress on employers and employees, EAP programs are more important than ever, and HR parties of one can be proactive about helping their team take advantage of one.
Employee assistance programs are a benefit designed to help employees deal with problems that may impact their job performance, mental health, or emotional well-being. EAPs generally offer short-term counseling, free and confidential assessments, referrals, and follow-up services for employees. EAPs have grown dramatically in popularity, and some even call them a core benefit today.
A recent SHRM poll found that 91% of members said that their company offered an EAP. We shouldn't be surprised by this, especially as millennials have come into positions of authority in decision-making. There was a Wall Street Journal article just last year, and I think the title was, Millennials are the therapy generation. And EAP is different from traditional therapy or counseling, but it rhymes with it.
And millennials are more receptive than maybe any previous generation in recent history to the types of coaching that you might offer in an EAP. So the popularity and the benefits of an EAP are clear. But what can HR parties of one do?
to make sure their team is taking advantage of their EAP when they need it. Here are a few tips. Let's talk about three things that you do today. First, check to see if you even offer an EAP. If you're sitting here watching this wondering to yourself, I don't even know if we offer one of these.
Don't be embarrassed. The first thing to do is to call your benefits broker, your disability carrier, or read your disability policy. because oftentimes these disability plans include an EAP as an embedded benefit. If your company doesn't yet offer an EAP, it might be that now is the right time to look into it. The Employee Assistance Trade Association puts together an Employee Assistance Purchasing Guide, and that's a good place to start.
I'll leave a link to it in the description. Second, after you confirm that you offer an EAP, make sure your employees know about it. Just because they signed up for the disability policy that offers an EAP, don't assume they know about it. Oftentimes when employees are making benefits elections, they're not reading through the benefits as closely as maybe you and I would like.
So now would be a time to remind them what the phone number is to take advantage of the EAP and what it includes. Finally, when you remind your employees that they have access to an EAP, also remind them that they're... privacy is protected under federal law. Some employees are going to be reluctant to take advantage of this program if they think that everything they tell a mental health provider is just going to get back to their employer.
That's not how this works. More and more EAPs are offering services online, which can add another layer of privacy and security. And some even offer mobile apps that employees can download and use to engage a mental health provider.
However they choose to engage. Make sure they know that their privacy is protected. I don't know about you, but like I mentioned before, I'm sheltering in place and working remotely with my family.
I love them deeply, but balancing work and home is challenging. And every day, there are at least two or three times when I have to remind myself to breathe deeply and stay calm. Reminding your team that they have access to an EAP could be just what they need to stay healthy.
Remember, your job is as strategic as you make it.