Employee counselling through employee assistance programmes (EAPs) can help to cut employees’ inability to cope in work, from 51% to 5%, according to research by Capita Health and Wellbeing.
Its research, which analysed data on more than 3,500 employees who had used advice and counselling services through an EAP in 2013, found that respondents who were coping poorly or very poorly with the demands of work fell from more than half (51%) before counselling to just 5% afterwards.
The research also found that, before counselling, more than a third (37%) of respondents said their relationships with colleagues were good or very good. After counselling, this rose to 65%.
Similarly, relationships with managers improved, from 38% before counselling to to 55% after.
The research also found that after using an EAP:
- Only 20% of employees had lost interest in work, down from 68%.
- 34% of employees reported low energy, down from 73%.
- 33% of employees had difficulty concentrating, down from 75%.
Karen Woodley, sales director at Capita Health and Wellbeing’s occupational health business, said: “Staff using EAPs are coping with a range of issues, including stress caused by their reaction to the job itself or life issues like divorce, ill health or financial worries. And we know that this impacts directly on performance.
“EAPs should be seen as much more than just a nice-to-have benefit for employees.
“Workplace stress has a fundamental impact not just on work relationships, but on productivity too. And our data suggests that improvements can be impressive.”
