Checklist: Designing a Successful EAP

Key ingredients to a successful employee assistance program include:

• Management support (including the necessary financial commitment);
• Development of a formal assistance plan detailing both short- and long-term goals;
• Preparation of a policy statement, which should clearly define:
  • (a) the purpose of the program;
  • (b) organizational and legal mandates;
  • (c) employee eligibility for the EAP;
  • (d) the roles and responsibilities of various personnel in the organization with regard to the EAP;
  • (e) procedures for the operation of the EAP;
• Description of basic services offered-information, assessment, and referral services and short-term counseling;
• A professional staff-people who have backgrounds in the mental health professions and who have experience working with alcoholism and addictions;
• A confidential recordkeeping system;;
• Union support;
• Trained supervisors who are clear as to their role in the program;
• A communication effort to make employees aware of the eap's existence, what it offers, and how to use the services it provides;
• Recognition of the special needs and problems of female, minority, and disabled employees; and
• Procedures for follow-up of current federal and state laws.

Reprinted with permission. © CCH