Allegations that a major employee assistance provider (EAP) fobbed off callers seeking mental health support and rationed therapy referrals has raised concern in HR circles.
Whistleblower claims that cases were handled inappropriately at EAP provider Health Assured were aired in a BBC Radio 4 File on 4 programme.
A therapist working at the firm told the BBC: “We are called wellbeing counsellors. What we provide is not in any way, shape or form counselling.”
Another counsellor claimed: “It’s a culture that puts company targets before clients. The service we say we’re offering are not what we’re providing because every time you put someone forward for therapy you’re stepping further and further away from your targets.”
The broadcast included interviews with employees who said they struggled to get mental health support from the service. One employee, told to call the EAP by his employer, was initially told “to go on a date with his wife and everything will be ok”, he said. When he called back weeks later, he claims he was told that “his mental health assessment was incomplete” and he was then offered face to face counselling.
Health Assured has rejected the claims, while the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), which accredits the provider’s counselling service, has passed the BBC’s allegations to its accredited services team to investigate.
But as mental ill-health at work soars, driving up demand for such support services, how do employers know they are getting the service they have paid for and expect?
Reviewing your EAP
The EAP Association (EAPA) has set out what employers should look for when commissioning a new EAP or reviewing an existing programme.
Its guide says that a quality EAP provides confidential and efficient problem assessment and identification, and is able to refer employees for assessment. It also says it is important that the EAP measures how effective its services are for the organisation, employee and job performance with user feedback and formal outcome measures.
Access to these performance measures can be through the EAP account manager and the EAPA encourages employers to build a strong relationship with this person.
However, it acknowledges that the level of account management varies widely and advises employers to investigate the structure of account management within a particular provider. It recommends finding out what level of support will be available after the implementation stage. Ongoing support can range from regular monthly meetings to review management information and discuss promotional activity to quarterly or bi-annual meetings.
“The frequency of meetings is likely to affect the EAP pricing, so be sure to check, so that it is clear what level and frequency of account management you are getting. Not all providers will offer face to face account management,” the guide says.
The guide says that an EAP account manager “should become a trusted advisor and consultant and be the first port of call to support your organisation through change, redundancy and crisis”.
EAP account managers should “appreciate the strategic aims of an EAP within an organisational context”, the guide adds, and they may offer a “very consultative approach as part of the management information review” and work with an employer to manage and develop the EAP within their organisation.
Know your limits
There is also a reality check for employers that may have high expectations. The guide states that EAP mental health counselling is focused on employee work performance, which informs all programme practices and services.
“EAPs are proactive in helping individuals with their issues, before they might develop into more complex situations or mental health problems,” the guide says.
The EAPA identifies a quality provider as one with “staff who are experienced in the delivery of short-term interventions and who are able to work effectively with the dual relationship between the employer or corporate client and the employee”.
There is also a Workplace Counselling Competence Framework for organisations outsourcing counselling to EAPs, published by the BACP.
This aims to help employers understand the remit of workplace counsellors as well as what their limitations may be. Details of the skills counsellors need are also included to support companies bidding for the work.
The BACP’s framework recognises that mental wellbeing interventions need to be adapted to the workplace and says that counsellors need to be able to “acknowledge that counselling in the workplace is often time limited and time sensitive and intended to support the client’s ability to function”. It says counsellors can keep this in check by setting goals appropriate to the number of counselling sessions available, focusing on achieving the best outcome for the client within the available time and referring and signposting clients who need a longer time-frame.
Therapists that spoke to the BBC claimed they were given time limits for phone calls of around 18 minutes. One counsellor claimed: “The target is to put as few people through [to therapy] as possible. Twenty percent of my calls can be put forward to therapy.”
With EAPA figures showing that 24.45 million employees are covered by an EAP, the outcome of the BACP investigation holds significant interest. For employers wondering if their EAP’s service delivery might not match expectations, it seems wise to check in with your account manager, regardless of the investigation’s outcome.
