October 2003   In This Issue...   Front Page   Argentina   Canada   Europe   Finland   Hong Kong   Ireland   South Africa Regulatory   Update Research   Review Interact   Survey Questions   Member Exchange     Forum Feedback	Canada: Employers Want One-Stop Shopping Meg Hinton, CEAP, Senior EAP Consultant, Kelly, Luttmer & Assoc. Ltd., Calgary, Alberta, Canada Martin Law, Director of Workplace Wellness, Kelly, Luttmer & Associates, Ltd., Calgary, Alberta, Canada The market for EAPs in Canada is much like the market for EAPs in the United States, in that most work organizations understand the need for employee assistance services and provide them in some fashion. One key difference between the two markets is that workers in Canada have access to certain resources that employees in the United States might not necessarily enjoy. For example, Canada has a national public health system that assists with psychiatric services, as well as provincial mental health boards that provide free services to people in local communities. Unfortunately, the mental health boards tend to have a fairly narrow door for entry--if you don’t have a DSM diagnosis, you’re not going to get help. Even if you do qualify for assistance, there’s a long waiting list, as these services are overburdened. EAPs have carved out a market among employers who want to get a better sense of the needs of their employees and then target those needs. Specifically, Canada has seen significant growth over the last 10 years in external EAPs to provide for the mental health needs of employees. As in the United States, EAPs in Canada primarily serve people who are fairly functional--people who work and have access to resources. What’s different in Canada is how EAPs provide services: We not only conduct the assessments, we also provide short-term counseling and case management services. Most work organizations with EAPs have a six-hour model, after which the individual can, if s/he chooses, stay on with the EA professional as a private client. Many companies will intentionally build in some flexibility to their coverage, recognizing that some employees may require more than the standard allocation of service hours. This is especially true in cases where an employee has been diagnosed with an addiction problem or is on short-term disability. In these cases, the company’s return on its EAP dollar investment is the greatest. Because EAPs in Canada also deliver short-term, solution-focused treatment services, the majority of EA professionals have a clinical background and also a sub-specialty in employee assistance. At our organization, for example, all the EAP staff are either chartered psychologists or registered clinical social workers with additional specialties such as substance abuse. If we were to look at our competitors, we would find pretty much the same thing. What we are beginning to see in the marketplace, at least here in Calgary, is companies seeking “one-stop shopping” for answers to a wide range of health issues that affect their bottom line. For example, an employer coming to Kelly, Luttmer & Associates (KLA) will be looking not only for an EAP provider but also someone that can manage medical claims for short-term disability, act as an interface with their long-term disability provider, and consult on ergonomics issues. They might start with just one service--typically an EAP--but once they start looking at data from all their different service providers, they start asking themselves, “Why don’t we coordinate all this so we can start to plan strategically for the benefit of the organization?” So they start looking for a service provider that can serve as a single point of contact for the customer. This is not the way EAPs traditionally have operated in Canada. EAPs typically have hands-off relationships with employers, citing the “need for confidentiality.” At our organization, confidentiality is absolutely necessary. But we would also assert that if we’re connected to the organization and understand its culture, and if we’re working appropriately with other resources within the organization such as occupational health, human resources, safety, and training, we can provide better service, understand our clients better, and be more proactive in addressing both the employer’s and employees’ needs. Employers are recognizing that the workplace itself contains major stressors that affect health on the individual and organizational levels. Employers are asking themselves, “Do we just want to provide stress management at the individual level and teach people how to cope, or do we want to understand the key stressors in the work environment and proactively address those stressors so employees are less likely to break down?” With all these trends occurring, Canadian EAPs are becoming much more comprehensive in terms of the services they offer and are, in some cases, developing strategic alliances with other firms to assist in this. For example, while we don’t have an industrial hygienist on staff at KLA, we do subcontract with a firm that provides that service. We have an occupational physician on staff, offer disability management, WCB case management, occupational health services, and ergonomics in conjunction with our occupational health nurses, and consult on workplace wellness. All of these services are managed through KLA. DISCUSSION (Member Exchange Forum)   Back Issues   Top of Page   Contact EAPA   © 2003 Exhange On-Line is a publication of the Employee Assistance Professionals Association, Inc. (EAPA). Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is expressly prohibited. Publication of bylined articles does not constitute endorsement of personal views of authors. Appearance of paid advertisements does not constitute endorsement by EAPA.	Vol. 1    No. 2