Contextualising the Effectiveness of an Employee Assistance Program Intervention on Psychological Health: The Role of Corporate Climate

Abstract

Organisations often engage Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) to assist employees experiencing psychological distress, yet EAPs primarily focus on individual remedies rather than addressing the context of the problem (e.g., the corporate climate) which may render them limited in effectiveness. We investigated the effectiveness of EAPs and the role of organisation psychosocial safety climate (PSC) (the corporate climate for worker psychological health and safety) and client satisfaction in reducing client psychological distress. Client participants (Time 1, n = 100, Time 2, n = 28, Matched n = 25) from Australia and New Zealand entering an EAP took part in two online surveys, pre- and post-EAP, around five weeks apart. Multilevel analysis showed a significant reduction in psychological distress due to the EAP (individual effect) but particularly at high levels of PSC (organisational effect). Thus, EAPs could engender a more significant impact by also assisting organisations to improve their PSC (i.e., through implementation of policies, practices and procedures for worker psychological health and safety), in combination with individual interventions.