Employees Assistance Programs: The Failed Experiment

Before writing this article, I asked 10 close friends, all with over a decade of corporate experience, if they had access to an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).

Five stared at me blankly, four said something like, “No idea, mate,” and the last one scrunched her brow and asked, “Like a plan for when the fire alarm goes off?”

And that’s the issue. The UK’s most common form of company mental health support is about as well known as the cast of Sharknado.

Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) were once touted as a beacon of workplace support, designed to help employees tackle personal challenges that might impact their job performance. Whether dealing with mental health issues, financial problems, or family troubles, EAPs promised solutions. But over time, these programmes have become little more than corporate formalities—ticking a box rather than actually assisting employees.

In the UK, where workplace mental health issues are at an all-time high, EAPs have proved to be… what’s a polite word? Inadequate?

The Origins of EAPs: Well-Intentioned Beginnings

EAPs first emerged in the mid-20th century to address substance abuse in the workplace. In the UK, they started gaining traction in the 1980s, expanding to include a broader range of services like mental health support, legal advice, and help with personal issues such as family breakdowns. Back then, they were often run internally, allowing employees a direct relationship with the programme and easy access to support.

Initially, the idea worked. Employees trusted the system, and employers saw the benefit of investing in their staff’s wellbeing. A happy, healthy worker is more productive, right?

But as EAPs grew in popularity, their format changed dramatically. As with everything in the capitalised West, EAPs were streamlined, stripped-down, and sold short.

The Commercialisation of EAP

By the 1990s, the rise of third-party EAP providers completely altered the landscape. Instead of personalised, in-house programmes, employers began outsourcing their EAPs to external vendors offering a one-size-fits-all solution. This move promised efficiency and cost-effectiveness, which employers loved. But for employees, it meant the programmes became less personal, more corporate, and ultimately less effective.

Today, EAPs are part of a multi-million-pound industry in the UK. In 2023, around 93% of large UK organisations offered an EAP to their staff, and the market is worth about £100 million annually. Despite their widespread availability, these programmes are critically underused. Only 5% of employees with access to an EAP actually use it—a shockingly low figure when 79% of British employees have experienced work-related stress, and nearly 1 in 4 people in the UK report having a mental health issue each year.

These third-party vendors are more focused on providing employers with a low-cost, convenient solution than offering effective support to employees. While offering an EAP might make an organisation feel like it’s ticking the right boxes, the reality is that these programmes often fail to provide meaningful help. 60% of calls to EAP services in the UK are redirected to self-help resources. Stories about questionable advice and even eavesdropping from some of the biggest EAP providers have emerged over the last few years.

Building Low Engagement Into the Model

In theory, offering free, confidential support to employees sounds great. In practice, however, most employees have no idea their EAP exists, or if they do, they don’t know how to use it. A recent study found that 55% of UK employees were unaware of their company’s EAP or didn’t know how to access it.

Even when employees know about their EAP, many are sceptical of its usefulness. For starters, the services often seem impersonal and distant, involving only a few short phone calls or counselling sessions before employees are left to fend for themselves. Most UK EAPs offer just 4-6 counselling sessions per person, which isn’t enough for people dealing with complex mental health problems or ongoing stress.

Additionally, there’s still a stigma around using EAPs, with employees fearing their confidentiality could be compromised or that using the service will be seen as a sign of weakness.

Above all, limited engagement should come as no surprise to any company who has adopted an EAP. It is built into the contract between provider and organisation, with excess use penalised by higher costs upon renewal. The result is that both parties are incentivised to limit use.

To summarise, EAPs are structured, designed, and packaged in a way that guarantees low engagement. It’s not unfair to suggest that the 5% engagement rate is deliberate.

The Illusion of Support

The sad reality is that many UK companies use EAPs as a convenient, low-cost solution that allows employers to say, “We’ve got mental health support in place,” without addressing the root causes of workplace stress and burnout.

While the EAP model might work in theory, in practice, it’s not tackling the core issues. With 17.9 million working days lost in the UK each year due to work-related stress, depression, or anxiety, it’s clear that the current model isn’t working. Offering a generic, outsourced helpline that few people use does little to address the growing mental health crisis in the UK workplace.

The Need for Real Change

The numbers don’t lie: EAPs, in their current form, are a failed experiment. Offering an EAP alone is no longer enough to combat the serious mental health and well-being issues plaguing UK workers. What’s needed is a major rethink in how companies approach employee support.

Rather than outsourcing responsibility to faceless third-party vendors, companies should invest in more comprehensive, visible, and effective mental health initiatives. Mental health training for managers, peer support networks, bringing mental health professionals in-house, or using smaller, more engagement-focused providers could offer far more meaningful support than a distant helpline ever could.

It’s Time to Rethink EAPs

In the UK, Employee Assistance Programmes have become a convenient cover for employers to address deeper issues in the workplace. While they once had the potential to provide meaningful support, today’s commercialised, low-engagement EAPs fall far short of what employees actually need. It’s time to stop treating EAPs as a solution to mental health and wellbeing and start focusing on creating real, effective systems that employees feel comfortable using.

Until that change happens, EAPs will continue to be the failed experiment that no one talks about, except maybe in the footnotes of an annual HR report. Employees deserve better, and companies must do more to combat the UK’s mental health crisis.

‍