Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) serve organizations and their employees in multiple ways, ranging from a consultation at the strategic level about issues with organization-wide implications to individual assistance to employees and family members experiencing personal difficulties.
In general, an EAP is a set of professional services specifically designed to:
- Improve and/or maintain the productivity and healthy functioning of the workplace; and
- Address a work organization’s particular business needs through the application of specialized knowledge and expertise about human behavior and mental health.
More specifically, an EAP is a workplace program designed to assist work organizations in addressing productivity issues and "employee clients" in identifying and resolving personal concerns, including health, marital, family, financial, alcohol, drug, legal, emotional, stress, or other personal issues that may affect job performance.