Content area
Full text
Short case studies and research papers that demonstrate best practice in rewards
Research commissioned by the UK Employee Assistance Professionals Association (UK EAPA) confirms the effectiveness of counseling through EAPs to support and promote employee health and wellbeing and to reduce growing levels of psychological distress in the workplace.
The 2012 study, "Benchmarking key service quality indicators in UK Employee Assistance Program Counseling: a CORE System data profile," reviews the outcome of over 28,000 counseling interventions undertaken as part of employee assistance program referrals (UK EAPA, 2012). It compares the effectiveness of the clinical Interventions against published benchmarks for NHS primary care services (NHS is the UK's National Health Service), as well as UK higher education student counseling services.
Following are the headline findings from the study:
* A total of 70 percent of EAP clients are demonstrably shown to recover or improve following their counseling intervention.
* A total of 92 percent of EAP clients are accepted for treatment in just nine days (on average) compared with a 64 day wait for treatment via NHS primary care services.
* A total of 88 percent of clients presenting to EAP counseling services score above clinical cut-off level, which means they are similar to NHS outpatients. This confirms that EAPs are seeing and supporting clinical patients who would otherwise need to wait for treatment from primary care providers.
* A total of 80 percent of EAP clients are estimated to have completed their counseling intervention. The benchmark figure from previous studies reviewing NHS and higher education interventions is approximately 50 percent.
* On average, EAP clients attend four treatment sessions, with 88 percent attending five sessions and 95 percent of EAP clients attending six sessions (data analyzed cumulatively). In comparison, 23 percent of patients receiving care in an NHS primary care setting attended four treatments or less.
The impact on business and the workplace
Every organization is affected...