Motivation and emotion/Book/2021/Employee assistance programs

Employee assistance programs:
What are EAPs, how do they help, and how effective are they?

Multimedia presentation (3 min)

Overview

Figure 1. Stress in the workplace

Mental health is one of the leading health concerns worldwide. In 2017, it was estimated that 792 million people were living with a mental health disorder, or approximately one in 10 people (Dattani et al., 2021). According to Safe Work Australia, Australian workers diagnosed with severe depression take 20 more sick days per month than regular workers. Furthermore, approximately $543 million is spent annually in relation to compensation for work-related mental health conditions (Safe Work Australia, n.d.). Employees now spend approximately one third of their lives at work and it is highly likely employees will experience some form of stress during their life due to the high work pressures and demands. Personal and work issues directly impact on an employee’s mental health wellbeing. Workplace issues are the most common source of stress for most employees.

Long term stress developed in the workplace can result in depression and anxiety. This negative emotion can also influence an employee’s job performance. Negative emotion has been shown to increase the negative association between motivation and job performance (Deck et al., 2021; Reizer et al., 2019). This means it is essential to maintain good mental health not only for the individual’s overall health, but also for the benefit of the organisation.

One of the approaches developed to help deal with the ongoing stress and anxiety employees are developing are Employee assistance programs, or also known as EAPs.

Focus questions: What are EAPs? Why are EAPs important? How do the benefits of EAPs empower individuals?

What are EAPs?

Case Study Introduction Lucy is a senior employee working as an accountant for a big accounting firm. She is kept very busy most days with a large amount of work and pressure coming down from her supervisor. Recently the firm has announced a wide restructure that may leave some employee's positions, including Lucy's, no longer required. This uncertainty in her employment has left Lucy feeling extremely anxious and concerned she may soon be unemployed. Lucy has found herself coming home in a low mood which routinely results in her and her husband having large fights, and her feeling physical ill afterwards. Lucy is feeling weighed down by the stress from her work, as well as the concern her marriage may be breaking down. What assistance is available to Lucy?

Cognitive Mediational Theory provides a deeper understanding of Lucy's situation. According to Richard Lazarus, the thought is followed by the stimulus of the event, leading to the physiological and emotional response simultaneously. For example, Lucy began to think and feel concerned about the breakdown of her job and marriage, which then led to feeling a physical illness.

EAPs have shown to be an effective prevention to workplace stress (Terblanche & Van Wyk, 2014). The main aim of an EAP is to provide assistance to employees and their immediate family members. They are designed to promote employee wellbeing in an effort to improve performance through assisting them to resolve personal issues. This chapter explores the importance of employee assistance programs for maintain mental and emotional wellbeing.

What is an EAP?

• EAPs are work-based intervention programs designed to promote employee wellbeing in an effort to improve performance through assisting them to resolve personal issues.
• EAPs are intended to provide early prevention and intervention to identify the issues and problems that employees are facing in their day to day lives, and help them to find solutions.
• Most major companies in Australia now make an EAPs available for their employees.
• While some companies develop internal EAPs, others use an external provider as they are generally cheaper (Csiernik, 1999).

Who can access an EAP?

• Most EAPs provide access to their employees along with their immediate family members.
• Supervisors and managers are also generally encouraged to access an EAP to seek advice and guidance when dealing with staffing and performance issues.

Why are they needed?

• Mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, have showed negative impact on a person’s life, including their work performance (Arthur, 2005; Ivandic et al., 2017).
• COVID-19 and racism are the current major challenges for workplaces globally. EAPs provide support and guidance for leaders to find an appropriate solution to combatting these ongoing issues (Jacobson Frey, 2020).
• Workplace bullying and harassment are growing challenges in workplaces. These can impact on an employees’ health and work performance, along with their immediate families and friends (Branch et al., 2013; Okechukwu et al., 2014).
• Workplace suicide and non-fatal suicide behaviour are a significant issue in most countries (Kinchin & Doran, 2017).

Section 1 Quiz Choose the correct answer and click "Submit": Who can access an EAP? employees partners children all of the above

Why are EAPs important?

Emotions can be a short term feeling, such as feeling nervous during an exam, or long term where an individual is working in a high demanding role. Long term and ongoing stress from work can be a risk factor for developing depression if the employee is unable to safely handle the stress.

Why is it necessary to understand emotion?

Figure 2. Cannon-Bard Theory

Emotion plays an important role in how an individual thinks and behaves. It can also influence decision making and the actions an individual chooses. There are three key components of emotion:

• Subjective response. Although all individuals experience emotion, researchers believe that emotion is a subjective response. This means one type of emotion could be experienced differently between different cultures or between different age groups (Fernández-Aguilar et al., 2020; Kuppe et al., 2017).
• Physiological response. This refers to how an individual’s body reacts to emotion. There are different theories of emotion that each provide an understanding on the correlation between emotions and the fight or flight response. The Cannon-Bard theory of emotion is one of the most well-known physiological theories. As part of this theory, Cannon and Bard believed that individuals experience both emotions and the fight or flight response at the same time, as shown in the example in Figure 2 of a dog barking.
• Behavioural response. This refers to how individuals express emotion and behave in response to emotion. Culture plays an important role in self-expression (Kim & Sherman, 2007), with people from different cultures behaving in different ways in response to the same emotion.

What is the risk from not managing your emotion?

Chronic stress can impact the regions of the brain that are responsible for managing our fear and stress responses. This then increases the risks to have an amygdala hijack. The amygdala is an almond-shaped structure in the brain’s temporal lobe, and is associated with the emotional memories. Servere stress frequently triggers an amygdala hijack and may impact on an individuals’ short-term memory. A study has concluded that the unique features of stress-induced plasticity in the amygdala, related to changes in other areas of the brain, may have long-term negative consequences on an individual’s cognitive performance (Roozendaal et al., 2009). This highlights the importance on understanding our individual emotional reactions and how better to take charge of them.

Who would most benefit from an EAP?

Not only do employees benefit from the mental and psychological assistance an EAP provides, but businesses also benefit from a more efficient and productive workforce.

Employees

An EAP offers:

• a safe place for employees to discuss anything that is on their mind with a professional, knowing that anything they share will remain confidential,
• the opportunity for employees to learn new ways to handle the stresses of personal and work life, and
• the opportunity for supervisors and managers to gain guidance on handling difficult staffing situations and work performance issues.

EAPs support employees dealing with many pressures and issues in life, including: Financial, Work, Relationships, Addictions, Legal issues, Mental and physical health.

Businesses

• The main aim of an EAP for a business is to provide preventative measures through the early detection of work and personal problems that may impact an employees and their work output.
• The issues and problems that an EAP may provide early awareness of include the breakdown of a relationship, alcohol and substance abuse, trauma, gambling, financial problems, depression, anxiety and other psychiatric disorders.

Section 2 Quiz Choose the correct answer and click "Submit": Which of these is not a key component of emotion? subjective response objective response physiological response behavioural response

How do the benefits of EAPs empower individuals?

The biggest benefit of an EAP is its ability to increase an individual's emotional intelligence. Enhancing emotional intelligence can decrease the intensity and frequency of negative emotions (Sun et al., 2021). Improving an individual's ability to understand and manage emotions can help them relieve stress, empathise with others, and communicate more effectively. The ability to enhance emotional intelligence is even more significantly important for front-line health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researcher have suggested four steps in achieving emotional intelligence as detailed below in Table 1 (Salovey & Mayer, 1990).

Table 1. Four Steps in Achieving Emotional Intelligence

Perceiving emotions	Perceiving emotions accurately to help individuals understand their emotions better.
Reasoning with emotions	Emotions can help individuals to prioritise, by promoting thinking, decision making and cognitive activity
Understanding emotions	If someone is expressing anger, it could be because that person has just failed an important exam, or they may have just broken up with his/her partner. Understanding the meaning of emotion is key in assisting individual manage their emotions better.
Managing emotions	The critical step of emotional intelligence. It includes how to regulate and respond appropriately to emotions.

Benefits of regulating emotion

Figure 3. Transactional Model of Stress and Coping - Richard Lazarus

As mentioned earlier, the ability to successfully manage emotion is critical. One of the most efficient strategies of regulating emotion is cognitive reappraisal. Cognitive reappraisal is a strategy that allows an individual to change their thoughts on a situation in order to change the emotional impact. Researchers have demonstrated that cognitive reappraisal has a positive effect on an individual's well-being (King & dela Rosa, 2019), and correlates with the positive indicators of mental health (Hu et al., 2014). Cognitive reappraisal is used a lot in Lazarus’ transactional model of stress as show in Figure 3.

Improving mental health

• Improving employee's self-efficacy and increase their ability to handle the stressful situations that occur in a workplace (Hanisch et al., 2017).
• Improving physical and mental health has shown to have a significant influence on the efficiency and productivity in employees (Yuan et al., 2018).

Performance of EAPs between cultures

Employees in Western countries

• EAP participants have shown to have significant reduced their anxiety and depression compared to non-EAP participants, as well as an improvement in their overall work engagement (Milot, 2019).

Employees in Asian countries

• EAPs have shown to have a lower rate of take-up in Asian countries compared to Western (Muto et al., 2012).
• Employees in Asian countries have shown to have a belief that personal and work issues can only be solved by discussing with close family or friends, and are unwilling to engage with a professional counsellor (Bhagat et al., 2007).

Case Study Outcome During her lunch break at work one day, Lucy noticed posters on the wall promoting her company’s Employee Assistance Program. The posters encouraged anyone who may be having a rough time to call with a number available for a confidential chat. Lucy decided to give it a chance and called the EAP and had her first session and chat with a professionally trained counsellor. She received confidential counselling and was offered some coping strategies that could assist with handling her work-related stress. The counsellor also provided some suggestion on how to best manage the work-life balance and help improve her relationship. Lucy continued chatting to the EAP for a few more sessions over the following months and started to feel better after implementing the suggestions into her work and home life. Lucy’s work productivity soon increased back to its previous levels, and she was able to obtain a large new contract for her employer soon after.

Section 3 Quiz Choose the correct answer and click "Submit": Which of these is the critical step of emotional intelligence? managing emotions reasoning with emotions perceiving emotions understanding emotions

Conclusion

EAPs are a professional service provided by an organisation for its employees and their families. They provide assistance when needed to help with personal and work related issues. Under the competitive business environment and COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant increase in mental health cases within the workplace. Through assisting an employee’s emotional management, EAPs assist the organisation by improving the employee’s work performance and output.

Understanding the three key components of emotion, as well as how to enhance one’s emotional intelligence, is essential in achieving a better level of emotion regulation. EAPs empower their employees, and their families, enabling them to identify their situations better and change the way their emotions impact themselves and those around them. Knowing how to regulate emotions is vital. EAPs provide a pathway for those individuals needing help, through assisting them to better manage their emotions, as well as enhancing their emotional intelligence.

However, there are still ways EAPs can be improved. Stigma associated with seeing a mental health professional is one of the major risk factors for individuals who are needing help, especially in men (Matthews et al., 2021). The step to get help should instead be a sign of strength that deserves support, in the same way as those who require a break from way or to go on a holiday. EAPs should also consider the various cultural backgrounds employees may have when developing their processes. There is a large variance in the effectiveness of EAPs between Western and Asian countries, and multicultural countries like Australia, must consider these cultural differences when tailoring their methods.

See also

• Employee assistance program (Wikipedia)
• Negative emotion in the workplace (Book chapter, 2018)
• Safe Work Australia (Wikipedia)
• Toxic Workplace (Book chapter, 2011)
• Workplace bullying motivation (Book chapter, 2014)
• Workplace mental health (Book chapter, 2020)
• Workplace stress and motivation (Book chapter, 2018)

References

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External links

• Cognitive mediational theory (Lumen)
• Employee assistance programs (EAPs): An opportunity to diversify your practice (American Psychological Association)
• Employee assistance programs- Philosophy, theory and practice (Government of Canada)
• Emotion focused therapy: Understanding emotions to improve relationships (Positive Psychology)
• Our world in data (Global Change Data Lab)