The practical draw is access. Seeing a psychologist privately usually means a referral, a gap fee and a long wait. An EAP appointment happens within days and costs the employee nothing. For the business, the return shows up as fewer sick days and people who stick around longer.

The first step in creating a good employee assistance program (EAP) is to find out what kind of help the employees need. To do this, you can use risk assessments, surveys, and data from human resources to find out what the workplace needs. Before you can decide if the costs will be based on a set package, on a per-employee basis, or on a per-session basis, you need to make a detailed budget. It is crucial to do a lot of research on the different EAP providers, looking at their offerings, availability outside of office hours, counselor expertise, and the different ways that problems can be reported. You can use the phone, video, in-person, or any combination of these ways to communicate to make the program work for you. If you think it's necessary, you can also limit the amount of meetings that each employee can go to. The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) should be promoted throughout the business by making it easy to use, reminding employees that their information would be kept secret, and giving them easy access to contact information. The last step in the process of making the program better all the time is to start it and keep track of how it is being used and what employees think of it.