Cost Benefit of an Australian EAP

This paper discusses the cost benefit analysis results from a larger study. Process, impact and other outcome evaluation results are discussed elsewhere. The larger study was a comprehensive; independent and controlled evaluation of an employee assistance program (EAP). The EAP service provider was Indrad Services Inc. a provider of external counselling services for employees in Western Australia. The design was a quasi-experimental, prospective, multiple time series in one blue collar organisation of 400 employees in Perth. The experimental group was those who used the EAP counselling service (Indrad), and the two comparison groups were those who used Self-arranged Counselling, and those who had No Counselling, over the 2.5 years of the study. Measurements were taken by employee surveys and employee records. Two measurement periods occurred before the EAP implementation and three occurred during and afterward. The EAP program resulted in a cost neutral situation for the company when compared with those who had No Counselling. The benefit cost ratio was 1:1.0 for this comparison. However, Self-arranged Counselling was more cost beneficial. It would appear that EAP Counselling is a useful cost neutral program when Self-arranged Counselling is unlikely to be taken-up by staff or where opportunities are limited for staff to exercise this option