Employee Assistance Program

Due to the impacts of COVID-19, both state and federal governments have provided additional funding to deal with mental health. However, businesses can choose to implement their own Employee Assistance Program (EAP) within their workplaces. 

There are many documented advantages of an EAP. For example, it can lead to increased productivity by employees and possibly reduced absenteeism as employees have a place to go when they are distracted by personal issues, lack of motivation or potentially workplace issues. It is an attractive offering as part of a Company Benefits scheme.

So, why are we mentioning EAP under our Safety & Wellbeing banner rather than Human Resources then? 

The reasons are simple. The model WHS Act makes it clear that employers must ensure the health (both physical and psychological) and safety of their workers, and also prevent or minimise risks to psychological health, so far as is reasonably practicable.

Further to this, taking a proactive approach to mental health support via an EAP has the potential to reduce costly ‘psychological injuries’. For example, Safe Work Australia estimates “7,200 Australians are compensated for work-related mental health conditions, equating to around 6% of workers’ compensation claims, and approximately $543 million is paid in workers’ compensation for work-related mental health conditions”.