Frequently Asked Question: What is a health promotion program (HPP) and how does it differ from an employee assistance program (EAP)?
A health promotion program’s main concern is “health promotion and preventative medicine rather than treatment,” which is the focus of an EAP (The Corporate Ethics Monitor, Volume 1, Issue 3, page 41). An HPP tends to “employ different professionals [than an EAP]: recreation therapists, vocational counsellors and nutritionists as distinct from psychologists, social workers and addiction counsellors” (The Corporate Ethics Monitor, Volume 1, Issue 3, page 41). Often peer counselling or group seminars are involved in providing employees with a broad range of programs including weight loss, stress management, healthy living classes, smoking cessation, exercise classes, fitness club subsidies, back care and CPR seminars, and on-site fitness facilities. As a general distinction between an EAP and an HPP, the former focuses on treatment and the latter on prevention.
An HPP can be cost effective because a healthy employee is more likely to perform his or her job well, be less frequently off work due to illness, and be more productive, creative, and committed. For instance, “smokers are absent from work 33-45% more often than non-smokers,” “heart attacks account for at least 10 million lost work days each year in Canada,” and “troubled employees have two to four times the absenteeism rate, six times the accident rate and three times the sickness and accident benefits of their non-troubled peers” (The Corporate Ethics Monitor, Volume 1, Issue 3, page 41). Therefore, if employees take advantage of health promotion programs, employers can save substantially because employees “get help before performance problems or distress becomes unmanageable or chronic” (The Corporate Ethics Monitor, Volume 1, Issue 3, page 41). In fact, “such programs can yield a 150-500% annual return on an initial investment on the order of $15-$150 per employee per year” (The Corporate Ethics Monitor, Volume 1, Issue 3, page 42).
Above all the most effective programs to help employees often incorporate HPP, EAP, and family-work initiatives. For instance, preventative and treatment programs in combination can be beneficial to two types of employees: those who are likely to seek help before a problem becomes chronic and those who will only seek help when a chronic problem forces them to do so. It would be beneficial economically to a corporation to have programs in place to address the needs of both types of employees. Therefore, the corporation that is considering developing an HPP and/or EAP should first decide, through consultation with employee groups, what are employees’ needs and then base its programs on those determined needs.
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ethicscan
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Thank you for this ping. There are actually over a dozen different behaviours or activities that are researched by EthicScan as elements of a wellness program. These program components could include a fitness club membership subsidy, CPR training courses, yoga classes on site, access to a corporate recreation facility, family as well as employee counseling on health and financial issues, and many more.
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