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Employee Assistance Programs

These programs are usually provided by the employer or the joint unions. The designs and scope of these programs vary in different firms (Richmond et al 2017). There are those which focus on violence and substance abuse at the workplace while others concentrate on other services. The main aim of these programs is to improve the wellbeing of people in a confidential and professional way.

1.Stress Management

This programs specifically deals with the personal and social issues affecting the employees within the workplace.

Pros

Strong Company culture. Employees have a great role in the culture of the company. Healthier employees who are operating under the level of stress they can manage to end up being more positive and happier (Sonnenstuhl & Trice 2018). This is important in maintaining a healthy and strong culture in the workplace which encourages creativity and productivity.

Reduced sick days. Absenteeism in the workplace is usually caused by stress among the employees. Excessive stress weakens the immunity of an individual. Therefore stress management programs play a great role in enhancing the health condition of the employees, hence reducing their chance of failing to report to their duties.

It is a sign of care from the employee to the employers. Active practice of the employee to reduce stress among employees through stress management programs shows a great concern for their happiness and health condition. This, in turn, increases the positive connection between the managers and the workers.

Cons

This wellness program is also costly. Some companies have wellness coordinators who work fulltime and need to be played. Other equipment like gym, health screening also need to be purchased in order to sustain the program. All these are expensive (Compton et al 2015).

There are cases when the privacy of the employees might also be put at risk especially in when coordinators fail to consider the privacy of the employees. Such cases lead to issues like discrimination especially when various sensitive information is leaked.

2.Alcohol and Substance abuse management

This program plays an important role in educating individuals on the importance of avoiding substance abuse. Most of the people make use of various drugs for different purposes (Paries et al 2018). In either case, these programs play important role in educating the affected on the risks of practicing substance abuse.

Pros

One great advantage is that it improves the performance of the employees within the company. In the best case scenario where the employees follow all the advice they receive in an attempt to stop the use of drugs, their performance also improve. This is because issues such as lateness, irresponsibility among other alcohol-related issues are also eradicated.

The program also plays an important role in improving the health status of workers. Drug abuse is among the major causes of different forms of cancer among other diseases. Therefore having employees educated on the effects of drugs enables them to lead a better kind of lifestyle.

The program also enables the firm to retain skillful employees. Instead of having the affected being replaced at the workplace, the program plays the role of transforming them into better people, which also affects the firm in a positive way.

Cons

The program is expensive. Especially in instances where the affected need more than just advice in reforming them. Different medicines are also used as well as employing psychologist professionals to carry out the program (Bachman et al 2017). This means that much cost is spent on these programs, therefore affecting the firm in a negative way.

Time wastage is also another impact. Much time is used in transforming the affected instead of participating in other significant duties within the workplace.

The chances of having the affected changing and becoming better people are also less. Which means that there is uncertainty in this area, making the employer have a hard time on whether to recruit other employees or wait for the positive changes to occur among the current ones.

References

Bachman, J., Siegle, A., & Pace, E. (2017). Employee assistance programs. Addiction at Work: Tackling Drug Use and Misuse in the Workplace.

Compton, R. L., & McManus, J. G. (2015). Employee assistance programs in Australia: evaluating success. Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, 30(1-2), 32-45.

Paries, C., Lamson, A., Hodgson, J., Muse, A., & Mutinda, G. (2018). Medical Family Therapy in Employee Assistance Programs. In Clinical Methods in Medical Family Therapy (pp. 497-535). Springer, Cham.

Richmond, M. K., Pampel, F. C., Wood, R. C., & Nunes, A. P. (2017). The impact of employee assistance services on workplace outcomes: Results of a prospective, quasi-experimental study. Journal of occupational health psychology, 22(2), 170.

Sonnenstuhl, W. J., & Trice, H. M. (2018). Strategies for employee assistance programs: The crucial balance (No. 30). Cornell University Press.