The State of Work-Life and Employee Assistance-Integration

(Article originally published by WFC Resources, July 2005, as a Guest Column written by Mary Ellen Gornick, Workplace Options)

Today’s Integrated Employee Assistance, Work-Life and Wellness Model Provides a Holistic Approach to Employee Effectiveness

Today’s business climate is fast paced, competitive and global. For companies to succeed in this climate they need an engaged and committed workforce. More and more, employee effectiveness professionals are realizing that their focus needs to be on viewing employees as multi-dimensional. Multi-dimensional employees are members of many systems: the family, the workplace, a social network as well as the larger community. For employees to function at a high level of commitment and contribute fully to their work, they must be emotionally and physically healthy. And, they need tools to help them perform at their peak. This marks a shift in strategy for Employee Assistance Programs, from primarily treating clinical and substance abuse issues to helping companies manage their human capital. This new holistic strategy has required Employee Assistance professionals to reach out and find new partners. The obvious partners in this holistic approach to employee effectiveness are found in the Work-Life and Wellness industry. Over the last ten years the integration of Employee Assistance, Work-Life and Wellness domains has evolved into a new holistic service delivery model. One that is broader in scope and focused on the whole multi-dimensional person.

It is interesting that the push to integrate Employee Assistance and Work-Life services, which began in the early 90’s, was client driven. The initial objective was to reduce administrative cost as well as simplify the end user’s point of access. It was a logical move for HR professionals, who viewed the two programs as similar and all encompassing. However, this happened long before Employee Assistance and Work-Life professionals realized their natural relationship. As Human Resource professionals began to fully recognize how essential employees are to business success, they began to understand the relationship between an employees well being, their contribution of discretionary effort and organizational success. And, this combination is what organizations need to successfully develop and sell products and service and ultimately creates customer and brand loyalty.

Over the past ten years the change in Employee Assistance service delivery has been quite dramatic. As Employee Assistance and Work-Life programs responded to service integration, they acquired vendors, developed strategic relationships and formed strong partnerships. It did not take long before it was clear that Wellness was a third leg of the stool. The Wellness partner focuses on the physical health of employees. Initially, the integration models promoted a single point of access with one toll free number - to the current model which provides a holistic response –a service delivery model that is designed to respond to clinical, life stage adjustment, wellness, dependent care and non-clinical matters in the daily living area.

Another factor that resulted in the rapid evolution of the Employee Assistance service integration model is also consistent with current business thinking. Business leaders now see employees as the human capital of their organizations. Forward thinking employers realize that the success of their organizations is fundamentally linked to how well the effectiveness of their people is optimized. Without committed employees on the ground working it, the most brilliant and strategic business plan is vulnerable to failure. To realize their optimal human capital value, an organization must invest in their people rather then view them as a cost to be managed. An integrated Employee Assistance, Work-Life and Wellness program, is a core offering in this context.

An integrated Employee Assistance program has advantages for both employers and the employees they serve. It can respond more quickly to employee needs, mobilize resources and collaborate to resolve issues. For example, consider the single parent who is scheduled for a Saturday morning therapy appointment, who also needs to arrange for child care so that she can make the appointment; or the client with an anxiety issue who is found to be the sole caregiver for his elderly parents who are in declining health and he has no idea about available resources. The integrated Employee Assistance model maximizes the impact of services so that the employee’s needs are met on both a clinical and non-clinical level. Synergy results when services are integrated. This synergy, in turn, helps to leverage the collective expertise and resources available.

Experience shows that utilization also increases in an integrated Employee Assistance model. When one employee uses one feature of the service, he or she develops an awareness of other features available and how they work together. When utilization increases crossover situations and client outcomes also increase thus demonstrating the value of the service. For example:

A clinician who is working with a client experiencing high levels of stress has the work-life program as a resource. Through the work-life service the client receives, they may also be able to tap into resources to assist with identifying home maintenance help, a personal trainer or meditation classes in the community.

When a client seeks the assistance of the work-life program for elder care housing, they can be referred to the EAP for assistance with caregiver anxiety resulting from the grief and guilt they are experiencing.

When a Health Risk Appraisal (HRA), offered through a wellness program, indicates that a client is at risk for cardio vascular disease, they can continue to monitor their condition though the wellness program. They can seek the services of the EAP to help adjust to lifestyle changes and the work-life program to get connected to community resources that will help them take charge of their health.

Cost advantages continue to remain a benefit of integration. An integrated model, which encompasses Employee Assistance, Work-Life and Wellness, is more cost efficient than three stand – alone programs. Increased utilization and program synergy increase the prevention and early intervention aspects of health and wellness, thus improving the overall health of the workforce and increasing the potential to reduce health care costs. Because rising health care costs are a major concern for the majority of companies, the holistic nature of the integrated program along with the health assessments and health risk appraisals, such as depression screening, disease prevention and chronic disease management, all converge to help create a healthier workforce and effectively manage the health care cost.

Today’s integrated Employee Assistance and Work-Life program model began with external push from clients. This external pressure ended up as the springboard for Employee Assistance professionals to re-think their service model. The result is a more holistic model that allows employees to be effective contributors that to the organization within the context of their own personal circumstances. This new model has developed the systems and processes to assure that the people factors in the work environment are managed proactively for the benefit of both the employer and employee. It is this new Employee Assistance model that is a vital partner to organizations in achieving business success.

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Mary Ellen Gornick, MA, is Senior Vice President at Workplace Options (WPO), a leading provider of Work-Life solutions for Employee Assistance Programs (EAP). She leads the Work-Life Consulting Practice and the National Training Center. The consulting practice assists clients advance Work-Life effectiveness initiatives through organizational assessments, impact studies, program design and strategy development. The National Training Center includes an inventory of 85 work–life, personal and professional development seminars delivered through a national network of trainers in traditional and on-line venues.

Prior to joining Workplace Options, she founded the CPA Group a nationally recognized work life consulting and training organization. Ms Gornick is a founding board member and past President of the Alliance of Work-Life Progress (AWLP). She currently services as a subject matter expert on the EAPA Work-Life Committee. Ms. Gornick earned a Master's Degree from the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration and is currently associated with the Entrepreneurship Center, housed in the School of Management at Purdue University-Calumet.

Mary Ellen can be reached at 312-386-1320; e-mailed at maryelleng@workplaceoptions.com or by writing her at: Mary Ellen Gornick, Workplace Options, Inc., 161 West Harrison Street, Suite 201, Chicago, IL 60605