Employee assistance programs involve giving confidential advice on personal, family and other employee problems, usually through an independent third party. EAPs are designed to deal with the fact that "an estimated 68% of all employees will, at some time, experience workplace problems severe enough to see them struggle and fail to cope with day-to-day performance duties" (The Corporate Ethics Monitor, Volume 1, Issue 3, page 39). Furthermore, "at any time, 15-20% of Canada's adult population age 18-65 years will be performing at a reduced level, whether because of mental depression, family difficulties, or substance abuse" (The Corporate Ethics Monitor, Volume 1, Issue 3, page 39). To a corporation or organization this means loss of efficiency, productivity, and eventually profits. The idea of employee wellness "predates the modern corporation and the industrial revolution" but official programs began appearing in the 19th century with "education, housing, moral guidance and other benefits [for] workers" and moved into such areas as "alcohol and drug programs focused primarily on identifying, motivating and rehabilitating alcoholics" in the 1940s (The Corporate Ethics Monitor, Volume 1, Issue 3, page 40).

Modern employee assistance programs encompass all of these services or topics and more, including drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, daycare referral programs, psychological or stress counselling, counselling for family members, and group seminars on health related, retirement, and other issues. Some companies prefer to have "off-site programs or formal and confidential on-site programs [because they] offer more visible, credible, and professional expression of corporate concern with an employee's well-being" while still allowing the employee to keep his or her problem completely private from his peers, the company nurse or doctor, or supervisor (The Corporate Ethics Monitor, Volume 1, Issue 3, page 41). Privacy and job security are especially important when marital, mental health or physical health problems are the issue in question. On the other hand, "other employers who opt for an in-house, [more informal] solution do so, in the opinion of Sam Klarreich, former psychologist at Imperial Oil, because of the morale-boosting message the program gives to staff - 'the company values you'" (The Corporate Ethics Monitor, Volume 1, Issue 3, page 41). It is up to the individual corporation to decide which approach best suits the needs of the company and its employees.

Corporations or organizations that wish to set up an employee assistance program should consider what specific services their employees say they want as well as what needs they are likely to suffer beyond the general problems that could affect any employee, no matter what their occupation, such as mental health or drug abuse problems. Specific problems could range from stress management seminars for high-stress work environments to extensive health and safety services for high-risk jobs. Above all, an employee assistance program needs to respond to the needs of the employees.

When an employee assistance program is being designed, regular consultation with employees or employee leaders should take place to guarantee or encourage a greater chance that the program succeeds. When there is a "lack of joint participation in program planning between management and employee groups," such programs are little more than "sophisticated mechanisms for controlling employee attendance, productivity or loyalty" (The Corporate Ethics Monitor, Volume 1, Issue 3, page 43). In order to avoid these weaknesses, the most successful employee assistance programs include "good planning, strictly confidential employee counselling, labour-management cooperation and workshops for company staff on how to manage troubled employees" (The Corporate Ethics Monitor, Volume 1, Issue 3, page 40).