At Employee Assistance of the Pacific, we want to partner with you to most effectively roll out your EAP services. We have done this with hundreds of companies in Hawaii, so we know what works and what doesn’t work.

First of all, it's simpler than you think for smaller companies. You call us, we send you a Proposal and a Contract for your review, then we walk you through what to do. We send you customized brochures, cards, and posters, and set up times to come and talk with your leadership team as well as your employees.

For larger companies, the initial process to guide the implementation of an EAP should start with a review of current company data, reports, and costs. The key stakeholders for the EAP should be identified, engaged, and then asked to collaborate on tailoring a plan to implement the EAP. Specific goals, metrics, and analytics should be developed for each of the defined areas of management focus. These results need to be measured, reported upon, and then will become the basis for making improvements and changes in how the program operates.1

Leadership Support is important!

It is important for senior leadership to announce the availability of the services, emphasizing the organization’s interest in maintaining a healthy workforce and outlining the steps it has taken in offering an EAP, in addition to reassuring employees about confidentiality and encouraging its use. We always suggest we start out with an EAP Orientation for your Supervisors and Managers in order to build a higher utilization of, and value for, our services.

Company Policy

Including EAP in the written HR practices and policies is important to establish specific practice guidelines regarding how EAP will operate and function. Other policies may be reviewed to incorporate that EAP is a problem solving resource to be utilized at defined times and conditions.2

Utilization Targets

Just offering an EAP doesn’t mean it will be used. Companies can develop a specific target level of utilization and create a realistic plan to promote the EAP to achieve the utilization goal. High utilization is best achieved by repeated promotional efforts as well as positive word of mouth from managers and satisfied users.

Promotional Communications

Maintaining regular communications about the EAP with employees and family members about the availability of the EAP is important. Managers offering employees EAP services sends a message of “Your well-being is important.” Posters should be placed in visible locations, and cards and brochures should be readily available to HR and managers. Companies that make sure the monthly Supervisor Newsletters are distributed to management, and that make sure the quarterly Employee Newsletters are distributed to employees, will see a higher utilization for EAP services and better value obtained.

The Intranet/Internet

More employees than ever are finding out about EAP services through a company’s Intranet or web portal. The EAP website as well as brochure can be linked here to make accessing EAP easier. The EAP’s website has a variety of services including articles and self-assessment tools that can be linked in wellness promotional activities.

Manager Orientation and Refreshers

Our experience in Hawaii is that the number one way of building utilization (and thus ROI) for EAP services is to bring EAP in front of its supervisors/managers/leadership team annually. This helps leadership keep EAP top-of-mind for productivity issues, absenteeism, safety, compliance, supervisor consultation and coaching, and for all the variety of ways that EAP helps the bottom line – not just helping with the personal issues of employees.

Partnering with EAP for a Training

Having EAP come in to provide a Training (or a series of trainings) can be helpful in terms of reinforcing the ways that EAP can support the organization. Bringing us in to provide your Harassment Training, your Workplace Violence Training, your Drug/Alcohol Training, or any of the variety of “softer” trainings we provide (see our Training Catalog) is another way of increasing visibility and often providing a higher quality, local-style, accessible training than you might get elsewhere.

1 Attridge, M. et al. (2010). Implementation of EAPs. EASNA Research Notes, Vol. 1, No. 9. Available online from www.easna.org

2 Csiernik, R. (2003). Ideas on best practices for employee assistance program policies. Employee Assistance Quarterly, 18(3), 15-32.

Make it personal.

1. The more this comes from upper leadership/ownership the better!

2. The more you can frame this as tied to company values the better!

3. The more you can tie this to the challenges any recent challenges the better (your responsiveness to growing mental health challenges in your industry, on your island, Covid, wildfires, etc.).

Reassure CONFIDENTIALITY.

1. Your employer values your privacy.

2. Your EAP would never release any information about you or what you talked about unless you wanted them to and signed your permission.

3. The only thing EAP shares is non-identifiable data (like the number of people who come in, the gender and island of people who use the services).

4. The EAP doesn’t diagnose you, and it’s not part of your healthcare record.

Reassure it’s FREE.

1. Your employer provides this as a benefit, you don’t pay anything, there’s no copay.

2. We’re giving you this because we care about you, your ohana, and all those issues that impact your life and your work.

3. You can use the benefit, and you can share the benefit with ohana who live with you.

Reassure it’s LOCAL and that you TRUST the EAP.

1. You now have (free!) access to LOCAL counseling (counselors across the Hawaiian islands [+ counselors available to our employees in X/Y/Z]), local eldercare support, local mediation, and help for financial challenges, legal issues, and identity theft.

2. The counseling benefit is for [X number of] free sessions with a local counselor, a short-term, solution-focused approach to helping resolve issues or finding ongoing support. Face-to-face as well as Telehealth (video or phone) counseling is available to you and the family members who live with you.

3. Employee Assistance of the Pacific is Hawaii’s largest EAP, they know our company and our workers and local issues, we trust them, and we encourage you to take advantage of this new resource (starting on this date) because we care about you!