The modern work environment is often a challenging place for employees. And events like the COVID-19 pandemic made it harder. In all of these, companies need to be ready to support their employees. This is where having a good employee assistance program will help a lot. Here is how you can build one that will suit your team’s needs.
The benefits of an employee assistance program
An employee assistance program is an internal program that a company provides its employees with the intent of helping them deal with personal problems. The main goal of such programs is to ensure worker performance is not affected by these issues. These programs also provide several key benefits.
Increased productivity
Employees distracted by various issues can end up performing less effectively at work. They might also fall into absenteeism as they try to cope with their issues. By having comprehensive employee assistance programs, companies can reduce that lost time by as much as 40%. These programs can also reduce work-related accidents by 65%
Business savings
While creating an employee assistance program will cost you an initial amount of money, its subsequent return can be significant. Studies show that you can get as much as eight times your initial investment in returns from these programs. That stems from the savings you get from fewer work interferences and a general increase in employee efficiency.
Greater employee acquisition and retention
One thing that many applicants would often look for in a company is the work environment. Having comprehensive employee assistance in place would tell them that your company is worker-friendly. That will effectively draw top talent to you. Additionally, your best talent would not leave if they know that they are well cared for in the office.
The qualities of a good employee assistance program
As you will learn later, employee assistance programs can come in different forms. However, while these programs have different functions, they need to have five qualities. These qualities will determine whether the company will be able to sustain these programs.
Value vs. price
Setting up an employee assistance program is going to cost the company money. However, a good program will be able to offset these costs. Here, you need to consider the type of assistance that you would want to provide and how employees will benefit from this. Aso, determine whether you can cover the entire workforce with the budget that you jave.
Ease of use
An employee assistance program would be pretty much worthless if workers can’t access it easily. As such, you need to make sure that your workers can use the programs whenever they need to. For that, you need to create a streamlined procedure for claiming benefits. This is particularly vital if you have a remote team, where members can\\t be physically present to process their requests for assistance.
Range of services
To better provide for your team, your employee assistance program should cover all work issues. You should also take into account employees’ legal and financial needs. This move will ensure that they will have all the support they can get when faced with problems.
Crisis response
Your employee assistance program should also be ready for unexpected events like deaths, on the job accidents, or calamities. Be proactive and set aside resources specifically for these situations. The program must also be ready to help employees recover quickly in the aftermath of these incidents.
The employee assistance program ideas you should try
There are many different types of assistance that you can provide your team of workers. However, there are categories that you would want to start with. These are the ones that your team will likely need in most situations.
Medical employee assistance program
The current COVI-19 pandemic highlighted the vulnerability of workers to various diseases. As such, medical assistance should be the first one you should consider when building your program. Here, you would want to cover the common illnesses and conditions that your team will likely encounter during their work. For instance, field workers can become prone to infectious diseases. You then need to cover at least part of their treatment expenses.
Getting a general medical insurance policy for your team would help a lot here. Additionally, you can get separate coverages for dental and vision insurance as needed by employees. Make sure that the insurance policy is accepted by hospitals near your team’s area of residence so that they can use the insurance without any issues.
As maintaining medical insurance plans can be costly, you can set up a special health savings account. Employees deposit part of their salaries into these accounts to pay for medical costs. You still pay the bulk of the medical bills as part of the employee assistance program but you also get tax incentives that would cover that cost.
Financial assistance
Financial assistance is another essential type of employee assistance program. While workers should always be able to provide for themselves financially, there would be times when they might find themselves cash-strapped. Once such instance is again the COVID 18 pandemic, where the restrictions on travel have hampered people’s work and incomes.
In these situations, companies stepping in and providing financial help is always a welcome move. There are several ways that you can give financial assistance to your team when they need it.
- Direct payments: In most cases, you can simply give your employees cash as needed. However, you need to have a set of rules defining what purposes they should use the assistance.
- Private foundation: You can also create an internal foundation that will handle and distribute the pooled financial donations. Ensure that the committee that will run the funds would be able to distribute it efficiently.
- Employee relief funds: In this type, you fund public charities that assist employees on your behalf. Be ready to help your workers in claiming assistance from these funds so that they can get it easily.
The type of financial assistance that you use should match your business structure. Small businesses with only a few employees can provide financial assistance faster through direct payments. Meanwhile, larger companies with hundreds of workers may find private foundations more efficient for the job.
Mental health and wellness assistance
Mental wellness should also be part of your overall employee assistance program. For a start, you can provide counseling services that will help workers deal with personal issues. These can either be in-house or through third-party services.
Another vital component here is an intervention program. This program protects workers from potentially dangerous behavior like alcoholism and addiction. When setting up such a program, you will need the help of experts who are qualified to provide the intervention. You can also join forces with organizations that provide support for the recovery of workers.
On the other hand, wellness programs help mitigate the stress brought about by the daily grind. Here, you don’t need to spend a lot to provide for the wellness of your team. Some of the small ways that you can help them include:
- Flexible work schedules: Giving your team greater freedom in choosing their work schedules goes a long way in helping them achieve a good work-life balance.
- De-stress zones: These are special areas in the office where employees can vent out on their issues and relieve themselves from the day’s stress.
- Corporate discounts: You can negotiate with nearby gyms, spas, and other wellness centers to secure discounts for your employees.
- Free healthy snacks: Make sure that the office pantry is stocked with healthy snack options. For your remote team, you can send them bags of these from time to time.
Even these smaller things will go a long way to help your team better cope with work stress and their issues. Explore what more you can do by asking your team what they want.
Give your team a helping hand with a good employee assistance program
Setting up an employee assistance program is one of the biggest investments that you can make for the team. And it will go a long way in ensuring that your workers will be ready to perform their duties. Build your program today and make your team feel secure knowing that you have their backs.