Products: Employee Assistance Program

Custom Disability Solutions (CDS) has developed an EAP offering available to you and your customers. We provide EAP services through a relationship with Resources For Living®, Ltd. (RFL). RFL is a behavioral wellness organization that was established in 1988 and delivers services throughout the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, RFL's technology-based infrastructure delivers consistent services via the telephone, Internet and optional face-to-face.

What's An EAP?

An Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provides services for assisting employees and their family members with personal and work related problems and issues they may experience from time to time. By offering employees and their family members access to the services offered through this program, on many occasions these problems can be resolved before they impact the employee's work performance.

Key principles of an EAP are:

  • Free of charge service to users;
  • Information provided in counseling is confidential;
  • Use of the services is voluntary;
  • Counselors are professionally qualified and trained;
  • Intervention is brief (up to 10 hours per client per year); and
  • Employees and their immediate family members have access to EAP services.

What Are The Benefits Of Having An EAP?

An EAP provides significant cost savings for employers providing such a program. The savings are a result of reduced absenteeism, reduced staff turnover and greater staff retention, fewer workplace accidents and errors, reduced disability claims, and reduced drug-related problems. The statistics we found supporting the benefits of an EAP on disability coverage are notable.

In the wake of Virginia Tech, employers are being urged to ensure that their managers are trained to avert workplace violence. The EAP plays a key role in helping companies establish appropriate policies and intervening when employees exhibit potentially threatening behavior (Source: Employee Assistance (EA) News, Events & Information April 26, 2007).

A new report from the Shepell-fgi Research Group finds that that companies with EAPs achieve lower levels of employee anxiety, dissatisfaction and turnover, higher perceptions of fair compensation and higher levels of meaningful work (Source: Shepell-fgi Research Group April 11, 2007).

Nationwide, it is estimated that EAPs have been responsible for an average of 33% less use of sick leave benefits (Source: Statistics. May 30, 2002. http://www.fishervista.com).

United States Department of Labor research suggests, at a minimum, companies can save $5 to $16 for every dollar invested in an EAP (Source: USDL, What Works: Workplaces Without Drugs).

An Employer-sponsored EAP program can reduce an employer's disability costs, medical costs, pharmacy costs, and workers' compensation costs (Source: Watson Wyatt, 2001).

Nearly one in five workers who call in sick are suffering from stress rather than illness (Source: CCH, Inc. Unscheduled Absence Survey, 2002).

Absences due to personal, family or stress related issues cost an average of $789 per employee per year. This is an average of 5.1% of a mid-sized company's budget (Source: CCH, Inc. Unscheduled Absence Survey, 2002).

It is estimated that depressed workers utilize 1.5-3.2 more short-term disability days in a 30-day period than other workers, with a salary equivalent and productivity loss averaging between $182-$395 (Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, 2002).

General Motors Corporation estimated that it saves $37 million a year through its Employee Assistance Program. That's $3,700 for each of the 10,000 employees enrolled (Source: Substance Abuse: A Guide to Workplace Issues — ASIS O.P. Norton Information Resources Center (1990)).

In a study of 122 staff members who used its EAP, the University of Michigan saved at least $65,000 over a 5-year period. This was a result of reduced sick leave and longer employee retention (Source: "Michigan Study Shows EAP Clients Use Less Sick Leave, Stay Longer" — by Keith Bruhnsen, MSW, CEAP, published in the EAP Exchange, (August 1994), EAP Association).

EAP Features

Our EAP provides services for employees and their families on both personal and professional issues, and supports employers with managing the workplace issues they face. The program is available for everyday issues as well as crisis support. Adding an EAP to your product portfolio will allow you to help your customers increase productivity, reduce absenteeism, and make your company that much more attractive to talented professionals that may be interested in joining your organization.

Our EAP is available to employer groups from 10+ lives, which allows the small employer groups to also compete more effectively for top employees. We included an EAP in our employee benefits package for those same reasons, and because our most important assets are our employees. The following services are available to you if you elect to market and utilize our EAP services:

Access

  • 24 hours per day, 365 days per year
  • Toll free number
  • Immediate, unlimited telephonic assistance
  • Access to masters-level counselors
  • Web-based information, resources and tools
  • Caller confidentiality strictly maintained

Counseling

Immediate access to help for issues such as:

  • Emotional/anxiety/depression
  • Family/relationships
  • Substance abuse
  • Grief/loss
  • Dealing with change
  • Individual coaching
  • Suicide/crisis situations

Work/Life And Information Referral

  • Financial, credit, debt issues
  • Legal information
  • Child and elder care
  • Home ownership

Immediate Help For Managers And Supervisors

  • Dealing with employee conflicts
  • Violence in the workplace
  • Substance abuse in the workplace
  • Sexual harassment
  • Employee behavioral issues

Optional Services

The following optional services are available as part of your EAP offering at an additional cost to the employer groups that use them:

  • Face-To-Face counseling services
  • Onsite workplace intervention
  • Standard on-site critical incident management services
  • Immediate on-site critical incident management services
  • Training and orientation seminars on topics including stress and time management, as well as work/life balance
  • Manager/supervisor training seminars

Resources And Support

  • Password protected access for employers and employees at www.rfl.com
  • Communication and marketing materials
  • Administrative and program support

Reporting

You will have access to the RFL Return On People Scorecard® (ROP Scorecard®) for utilization reporting. The reports are also available to large (above 500) employee policyholders if needed. They are produced at a frequency and in the format you request. Greater or lesser levels of detail can be accommodated, but with all utilization reports will provide confidential information.