Employee assistance programs help workers address challenges to personal and professional success. Especially in the midst of a global pandemic, EAPs are critical in connecting employees at all tiers with valuable resources, tools and professional help to address a wide variety of issues. From marital and relationship problems to substance use, financial concerns to career confusion, employee assistance programs extend hope and healing for participating employees.

Not all employee assistance programs are created equal. And while many EAPs succeed in consistently connecting employees with the help they need, as an EAP ourselves it’s important to us that all employees receive the absolute best in possible care. Even if you’re currently contracted through an employee assistance program, it never hurts to reassess the levels of care each employee can experience.

Here are 6 questions worth asking your current employee assistance program, to better gauge their commitment and assess quality of service:

1. What services do you offer?

Especially if you’re interested in specific employee assistance services, this should be one of the first questions you ask of your new EAP. Take the time to familiarize yourself with the portfolio of services that your current EAP provider provides, and if you’re considering a new EAP provider then don’t forget to cross-reference each list. Ideally, you’re going to want to find a new employee assistance program that offers core behavioral and mental health services, combined with more nuanced care like financial asset management, career counseling, even life coaching and leadership education.

At Mazzitti & Sullivan EAP, that’s exactly the spread of services we aim to provide. Our deep service portfolio helps you address a wide array of personal and professional challenges, everything from substance use to gambling, grief and loss to emotional wellness.

2. Do you allow family members to use your EAP services?

One of the major benefits to the best employee assistance programs is the fact that immediate family members – spouses and children – are often invited to partake in the benefits. This means not only that your spouse and your children can use EAP services to address any issues in their own lives, it also means that alongside your children and/or your spouse, you can actually partake in family or group therapy sessions together, without worrying about any lapses in coverage. Whether you’re looking to grow closer to your significant other or you want to help your child address an issue in his or her own life, look to find an employee assistance program that offers EAP benefits to family members.

At Mazzitti & Sullivan EAP, family EAP coverage is simply one of the backbones of our entire practice. Spouses and children can enjoy identical benefits as those used by the employee. We allow family members to benefit from your EAP services, and it’s a quality we recommend you look for in your current EAP provider when gauging proficiency.

3. What is your client retention rate?

The client retention rate of an employee assistance program tells you a lot about how they operate. After all, it’s a rate that concisely conveys how well your EAP satisfies clients over time.

At Mazzitti & Sullivan EAP, we pride ourselves in the fact that we maintain a 98% client retention rate over time. In addition, our utilization rates are nearly two times what our competitors can maintain, meaning that our services are used more often, and are characterized by a higher retention rate, than much of our local or national competition can uphold.

4. How easy is it to contact you if I need help?

Sometimes, you just need to speak to a real person. Whether you’re interested in the specifics of your employee assistance program benefits or you simply have a question you need answered, you deserve to work with an EAP that can offer a direct contact option.

That’s exactly what we offer at Mazzitti & Sullivan EAP. We want our clients to benefit from a constant contact option, which is why we encourage direct contact at any time of the day or night.

5. Can you offer resources in my community?

Great employee assistance programs can help you address a wide variety of issues in your personal and professional life. In addition, EAPs can work to connect you with valuable assets and resources in your community.

It’s an underrated benefit to core employee assistance programs that we try to emphasize at Mazzitti & Sullivan EAP. Whether or not an employee thrives has everything to do not only with their resolve, but with the support system around them. And helping to connect an employee with resources in their community only serves to assist in further addressing any challenges that might benefit from local help.

Connecting you to the EAP benefits you deserve

We’re huge fans of transparency. If you know you’re receiving the employee assistance programming you deserve, we certainly don’t want to stand in the way. However, we like to encourage all employees, at least once in a while, to refamiliarize themselves with service variety and to rediscover benefits packages. Give us a call at 1-800-543-5080, or react out directly today for even more information about your benefits and how you can put them to work.