Five good reasons for using an employee assistance program ... #5:

1. Consultation to supervisors and human resource specialists ... more
2. Training for supervisors and human resource specialists ... more
3. Confidential assessment and counseling for employees ... more
4. Education for employees ... more
5. Cost effective ... more 

5. Cost effective

Employee assistance programs are cost effective. It may be helpful to examine the cost effectiveness of an Employee Assistance Program. It may sound surprising that more than 60% of Fortune 500 companies have programs to address employees' mental health and substance abuse problems. These companies consider an employee assistance program (EAP) a wise investment.

Facts and figures make EAP-sense

• 55% of employee absences are used for family issues and stress.
    
• Personal problems cost companies $2 billion annually.
    
• American businesses lose $40 billion annually in lowered productivity due to employees' problems with drugs and alcohol.
    
• Worker stress accounts for 20% of direct costs associated with high job turnover, strikes, work stoppages and absenteeism.
    
• 54% of firms report higher stress, missed deadlines, and poor customer service as a result of downsizing.
    
• 40% of industrial fatalities and 47% of industrial injuries can be linked to alcohol consumption and alcoholism.
    
• A study of 102 companies found 36% of all employee thefts directly related to drug-abusing workers.

Is an EAP a cost-effective investment?

• For every dollar invested in an EAP, employers generally save anywhere from $5 to $16. The common experience of business and industry is that treatment which puts the alcoholic on the road to recovery will reduce medical costs up to 69 percent, reduce the number of sick days up to 47 percent, and reduce sickness and accident benefits by up to 48 percent.
    
• Companies that have EAPs have demonstrated a decline in workers compensation claims of up to 30 a decline in work-related accidents as high as 65%.
    
• 84% of people who experienced employer-sponsored counseling said it helped their performance.

Have companies seen results from establishing an EAP?

• The city of Phoenix estimated a savings of almost $2.5 million annually on an investment of just over $58,000 for an EAP.
    
• Regional Transit of Tampa, Florida credits establishing an EAP as helping lessen liability expenses from $1,013,209 to $29,951 in two years.
    
• A study done for the McDonnell Douglas Corporation by an outside research firm showed an overall savings-to-investment ratio of 5:1 over the three years studied.
    
• Illinois Bell estimates that over a five-year period, its EAP-involved alcohol program saved the corporation $1,272,240 in reduced absenteeism.

For further information about Solutions Employee Assistance, continue to browse or call us.

Solutions Employee Assistance
Telephone (360) 696-5092 or (800) 232-2475
FAX (360) 696-5168
 
e-mail: solutions@swmedicalcenter.org