What is EWP?

An Employee Wellness Programme is an intervention based in the workplace. It recognises that issues and events in employees’ personal lives often have a negative effect on their performance at work. The most common issues that affect performance, and by extension productivity and an organisation’s bottom line, are related to the following areas:

  • Substance Abuse / Addiction (alcohol, drugs and increasingly gambling)
  • Loss and Trauma
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Stress
  • Disability
  • Productivity
  • Conflict
  • Abuse
  • Depression and Anxiety
  • Absenteeism
  • EWP and SA Legislation.

The reasoning behind an EWP is that by helping employees to face and then deal with problems that are affecting their work, an organisation saves money and creates the sort of environment that attracts and retains loyal and productive people.

An EWP is not a short-term, quick-fix initiative. Nor can the results be measured overnight. However, research has shown that an organisation that offers these services to its employees receives benefits often beyond expectations.

Two key tenets of a successful EWP are that the employer / EWP manager acts as a facilitator and that help and advice are outsourced, thus ensuring employee confidentiality. This confidentiality is essential to the success of any EWP, since buy their nature, the sort of personal issues that affect an employee’s work performance often attract stigma, fear and insecurity.

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What are the potential benefits to employees?

  • Confidential advice and assistance, at no cost to themselves, with issues that are affecting their performance at work
  • Less anxiety and stress at work
  • An understanding of their problems
  • Possible solutions to problems
  • Personal growth and learning opportunities
  • Improved health and lifestyle (depending on the problem)
  • An improvement in work performance
  • Better job security
  • The knowledge that the employer is willing to help find a solution to problems
  • Increase in trust of management.

What are the potential benefits to employers?

  • EWP offers practical solutions to several HR problems
  • Less absenteeism
  • Higher productivity, better work performance
  • Improved employer / employee relationship
  • More trust in management
  • Employees feel more positive about the work environment
  • Improvement in employee morale
  • Can reduce medical and other costs to employers
  • Bottom line improvement.