In today’s corporate environment, business organisations glance for an energetic workforce in every sphere of their operations. The very dynamic nature of the corporate world is evolving rapidly. To cope up with the persistent change, employees are draining themselves in an unprecedented way. Undue responsibility and commitment lead to a sharp decline in concentration and productivity. Most of the time, extra workload impacts negatively and reduces the efficiency both at the individual or team level.
As working beings, employees need to maintain the equilibrium between corporate and private life. Having a good balance between work, personal life, family and finances is of utmost importance in the long run. Routinely, we hear issues like depressions, stress, grief, and the suicidal psyche of employees in the workplace. Mental health is an indispensable aspect of work-life, no one can ignore it. Organisations need to take proactive steps to improve the mental health of the employees comprehensively. One great way to acknowledge such vital issues is to offer EAPs to the employees of the organisation. Let’s understand more about it.
What Is An EAP? How Does It Help in The Mental Well-being of Employees?
An employee assistance program is a comprehensive set of professional services designed to enhance the productivity of employees and create an effective workplace by resolving potential issues. It provides confidential and short-term assistance that helps in unraveling issues like mental health, physical, financial, legal, work relationships and corporate abuse. The program includes counseling and consulting sessions, where employees put forward all the challenges they are facing. These challenges have detrimental effects on the mental health of the employees and lead to loss of efficiency.
Employees’ mental well-being is vital for the organisation’s performance and productivity. Therefore, management must heed the potential warning signs and support your employees when there is a need. Here are some ways in which the program assists employees to balance their mental health.
Improves Work/Life Balance
An unhealthy work culture disturbs the balance between professional and private life. Working late and arriving early hurts the company in the long run. The efficiency of employees degrades due to hectic schedules. Without a healthy work culture, productivity is most likely to decline and employees drain themselves too early. The program acknowledges such issues and reduces the mental stress of the employees.
Reduced Absenteeism
The mental well-being of the employees should always be the priority of the organisation. Unfortunately, the lack of concern about mental health will create unforeseen problems for the organisation. The most common issue is absenteeism. When the employees lack esteem, they skip work. The program helps employees to raise their concerns and resolve them out when needed.
Ensure A Favorable Work Environment
Stress or depression among employees induces various critical issues such as absenteeism, health problems and the decline in performance does not affect only employees but overall organization. The program provides a platform to address the issue of the troubled employee and take proactive steps to improve mental health. This will also have a positive effect on co-workers and the whole organization.
Tackles Stigma Around Mental Health
As a society, we failed to address the mental health of an individual. There is a social stigma related to it. Several employees feel embarrassed while discussing mental illness. As a result, normal stress changes into depression, mainly due to a lack of social support. The program tackles the issue of social stigma and encourages employees to put forward their issue.
Increases Productivity
When employees struggle with personal problems, it is very difficult to concentrate on work. The reason may vary from one employee to another but their struggle will hamper productivity. Consequently, the company suffers a potential loss affecting the total productivity. Introducing an EAP can resolve such issues and helps to increase the efficiency of the employee.
Save Time and Money
The financial issue is one of the primary reasons behind an employee’s stress. An EAP addresses the various issues of the employees related to finance, saving their time and money that they spent searching for proper counseling. The program facilitates a concern about addiction, weak financial planning, and ineffective time management. It also offers legal resources and helps improve employee retention.
Improves Morale and Emotional Assistance
Employee morale is the intangible energy that fuels the organisation growth. If the employees are struggling with their morale and performance has been dropped, it indicates that the employees are facing some hurdles in life. In such scenarios, EAPs is crucial to address the problem. It also provides emotional assistance to employees for a variety of problems such as abuse, divorce, relationship issues, addiction or any other personal issues.
In this globalised world, people say wealth prevails over everything, but the reality differs from the majoritarian notions. Health is wealth, an old proverb but still effective. The cutthroat corporate competition reduces the value of human life. Let’s stop for a bit and check your mental health. Lack of awareness about mental illness unduly affecting millions of lives. EAP is the need of the hour.
