This research study was conducted to determine the need for an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) at Kalafong Hospital as a way of assisting troubled employees to deal with either personal or work-related problems they experienced. These problems affect their job performance negatively if left unattended. An EAP is effective in dealing with employees’ problems as it addresses all social problems that affect employees’ job performance. The aim of the study was to explore the feelings, experiences and needs of employees of Kalafong Hospital with regard to an EAP at Kalafong Hospital. Data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews utilising a schedule as a guideline for the researcher during the interviews. Twenty (20) respondents participated in the study. This investigation revealed that employees of this hospital experienced personal and work-related problems that, if left unattended, had a negative effect on their job performance. Methods currently used to help troubled employees of this hospital are not as effective as that of an EAP. Social workers provide very little help to employees as their services are earmarked for patients of this hospital. Supervisors and union representatives are also not formally trained to assist troubled employees and thus provide very little help to the employees. It is therefore concluded that there is a need for a structured Employee Assistance Program in this hospital, as it will provide comprehensive services to employees. / Dissertation (MSD (EAP))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Social Work and Criminology / Unrestricted

This study was designed to examine and describe the levels of job satisfaction, the sources of job satisfaction and the relationship between the variables in a national sample of employee assistance program (EAP) professionals. The sample for this study consisted of EAP professionals who worked full-time, and who were members of the Employee Assistance Professionals Association.Data were collected through mailed surveys consisting of and an Individual Information Form and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ). A total of 354 EAP professionals were mailed survey materials. This mailing resulted in 211 completed returns.Overall, EAP professionals indicated that they were moderately satisfied with their jobs. MSQ questionnaire results show that 9% of respondents scored in the very satisfied category, and 71% scored in the satisfied category. The average MSQ total score was within the satisfied range.Demographic variables had mixed results on job satisfaction. EAP external organization respondents were, as a group, more satisfied with their jobs than those respondents who worked in an internal EAP. Age, gender, race of respondent, rural versus non-rural work setting and national certification/recognition had no statistically significant impact on job satisfaction. Several recommendations and implications were drawn from the study. These included the need for open lines of communication with regard to career advancement and company policies; gender inequity issues are seen as barriers to job satisfaction and the masters degree is seen as the logical choice for the entry level EAP professional. / Ph. D.

在職場上，員工是組織最有價值的資產，當員工面對家庭、婚姻、休閒、工作等個人或環境壓力時，所產生的心理、情緒的變化會因員工個別抗壓力不同，而有不對紓解壓力的方式，但組織成員若不能有效排解工作上的壓力源，造成其身心受害，甚或產生行為不適症候，不僅對組織是損失，對社會而言，更是莫大的人力和經濟資源的耗損。 員工協助方案 (Employee Assistance Program，簡稱EAP)係指提供員工工作、生活及健康等各方面的服務，希望能協助解決、改善員工各項職場壓力的問題。 我國員工協助方案起源於1970年代，最初是以公益團體與企業主所推動的勞工生活輔導為主。行政院勞工委員會於1992年以「工業社會工作」名稱推廣勞工輔導，嗣於1994年推動「員工協助方案」，並以「員工協助」方式推展勞工服務工作。為進一步落實優質的人事服務，提供公務同仁多樣化的協助性措施，行政院人事行政局於2007年10月訂定「行政院所屬中央機關學校員工協助方案推動計畫」期能建立溫馨關懷的工作環境，提昇行政服務效能。 本研究能藉由探討現階段公部門推行員工協助方案之效益及運作之結果，有以下幾點建議，提供未來公部門推行員工協助方案之參考： ㄧ、員工協助方案是政府提供公務同仁的一項福利措施。 二、修訂「行政院所屬中央機關學校員工協助方案推動計畫」辦理方 式由公務人員住宅福利委員會統一辦理或由主管機關統一訂定 共同供應契約。 三、加強「員工協助方案」宣導，建立同仁正確使用觀念，以免 政府造福公務同仁之美意打折扣。 四、發現公務同仁真正的需求，研擬適合公部門同仁的員工協助方 案。 關鍵字：員工協助方案、心理諮商 / In the job field, employee is the most valuable asset in the organization. When employee has to face with personal or environmental stress such as family, marriage, leisure and work etc., the psychological and emotional change generated will result in different stress release method due to the difference in individual stress resistance strength. However, if the member of the organization cannot effectively eliminate the source of stress in work, this will be harmful to the body and mind or will cause unsuitable behavior symptom. To organization not only this is a loss and in fact this is actually an enormous waste of manpower and economic resource. Employee Assistance Program, abbreviated as EAP refers to provision of various services including work, livelihood and health of employee etc. hoping that this can solve and improve problems of stress in various job fields for employees. The Employee Assistance Program of our country was originated in the 1970s. In the beginning this was mainly based on guidance on labor livelihood by public welfare groups and enterprise owners. In 1992, the Council of Labor Affairs, Executive Yuan popularized labor guidance under the name of 「Industrial Society Work」. Afterwards the 「Employee Assistance Program」 was implemented in 1994 that promoted labor service work in the form of 「Employee Assistance」. In order to practice good quality personnel service, diversified assistance measures were provided to government employees. In October 2007 the Central Personnel Administration, Executive Yuan stipulated the 「Promotion Plan of the Employee Assistance Program for Employees of the Central Authority and Schools, Executive Yuan」 hoping that this could establish a warm and caring work environment and could enhance the administrative service efficiency. According to the study on the benefit and the operation result of the employee assistance program implemented by the public department at the present stage, this research presents the following suggestions so that these can be served as a reference to the public department on implementing the employee assistance program: 1. The Employee Assistance Program is a welfare measure provided to the government employees. 2. The processing method of the 「Promotion Plan of the Employee Assistance Program for the Central Authority and Schools, Executive Yuan」 shall be amended that this shall either be processed by the Government Employee Residence Welfare Committee collectively or the competent authority shall collectively stipulate the common supply contract. 3. Enhance the publicity of the 「Employee Assistance Program」 and establish the correct usage concept of colleagues in order to avoid reduction in the good intention of benefiting government employees. 4. Find out the real requirement of government employees and formulate the employee assistance program that is suitable for employees of government departments. Key word：Employee assistance program, psychological counseling

Thesis (LLM. (Labour Law)) -- University of Limpopo, 2010

Employee assistance program (EAP) is a counseling benefit that claims to address any personal concerns and improve workplace productivity. Starting with alcoholism and substance abuse issues, past studies always put their emphasis on the effectiveness of healing or the financial returns, not considering the impact on employee behavior. We tried to take a different point of view on EAP, examined the linkage between EAP and organizational commitment, using benefit satisfaction and perceived organizational support as intermediate variables, to see if EAP has more effects than curing. Using survey data from 103 employees, a series of path analyses supported a mediated model in which EAP usage and EAP knowledge both exert indirect effects on affective, continuance and normative commitment, while all of these effects are totally mediated by perceived organizational support and some are partially mediated by benefit system satisfaction. Our findings suggest that EAP is a good benefit that not only deals with personal problems but also helps remaining talented employee. The differences between EAP usage and EAP knowledge benefit shows that maybe what employees really care is the feeling that their company cares about them, not financial gains from benefits.

The aim of this study is to investigate the nature, extent and impact of micro lending on the social functioning of members of Correctional Services. The negative implications and involvement of employers in micro lending often surface too late because the borrower is not well enough informed. This study is approached from a systemic perspective, which focuses on the bilateral influence of systems and their role in the individual’s everyday life. Because of the fact that a void has been identified in regard to scientific literature and evidence concerning this problem, an explorative study has been undertaken for data collection. In order to reach the goal, literature studies were undertaken, conversations with experts and individuals who have had first hand experience regarding micro lending. For the purpose of this study a questionnaire has been used with fourty respondents. This study was undertaken at the Department of Correctional Services Baviaanspoort Management Area. This study is based on quantitative and developmental research principles, within the exploratory design. From the research findings, several results and recommendations were put forward. / Dissertation (MSD (EAP))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Social Work / unrestricted

Many investigators have documented high levels of stress in the U.S. workplace and the underutilization of employee assistance programs (EAP). Researchers in other studies have concluded that an employee's perception of a service influences participation and service use. However, the perceptions of geographically distributed employees, who represent a growing population, have not been sufficiently examined. The purpose of this study was to investigate geographically distributed employees' perceptions regarding access to EAP stress management services to address the problem of EAP underutilization. Organizational justice theory served as the theoretical framework. The study design was generic qualitative. A purposeful sample of 15 geographically distributed employees provided rich data through semi structured interviews and online questionnaires. The use of generic inductive coding yielded emergent themes regarding geographically distributed employees. Results indicated that geographically distributed employee's perceived access to EAP stress management services as unclear, time-consuming, and inconvenient due to physical separation. This research is significant for human service, employee assistance, and human resource professionals who want to improve geographically distributed employees' perceptions of access to EAP stress management programs. More effective marketing may increase employee use of EAP services and alleviate workplace stress, thus positively impacting social change by helping to cultivate a healthy workforce.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Social Work)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / An Emergency Medical Service (EMS) is considered one of the most stressful work environments. Copious literature has demonstrated that emergency service work has an undesirable impact on the health and wellbeing of personnel. In South Africa, research findings described that emergency services personnel are among the highest group of professionals at risk of suffering from job-related stress. In spite of the fact, previous studies have examined the association between critical incidents and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms including the psychological influence of trauma, a minority studies have explored the EMS personnel’s traumatic experiences and the subsequent coping strategies applied. This study sought to explore and describe the lived experiences of Emergency Medical Personnel in Capricorn District and to develop a user led model for mitigating occupational stress among EMS personnel. The principal aim of this study was achieved through the following objectives; to profile work related stress and the lived experiences of EMS personnel in Capricorn District, to Identify and appraise coping strategies employed by EMS personnel, to establish how accessible and user friendly EAP services are to EMS personnel, to determine the nature of social support (colleagues and supervisors) EMS personnel receive and to develop a user-led model for EMS personnel. This study was rooted in three theories, namely; trauma theory, resilience theory and the strengths perspective theory. The three theories were appropriate in this study to offer a perspective of situation and to analyse the situation under study to provide an understanding into the way in which EMS personnel make sense of their situation of the challenges they come across and make use of the available resources. The three theories interlaced together played a critical role in this study as they both align with building resilience, recognise individual’s innate strengths and coping in the face of hardship. Owing to the inimitability role of the emergency personnel and the services’ work context, the study adopted a qualitative approach. The purpose of the study was exploratory descriptive in nature. Exploring both their experience of critical incidents and the coping strategies employed by them to mitigate work-related stress and traumatic incidents from this qualitative perspective allowed the researcher to employ phenomenological research design for this study. A sample size of 21 emergency employees comprising 7 station managers and 14 EMS personnel) was obtained through purposive sampling technique. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data.  The findings suggest that life in the emergency field can possibly have an undesirable long-term effect on employees’ overall health and welfare and higher risk of PTSD. The distressing incidents were those in which the participants experienced feelings of vulnerability and had no control of the situations. The study established that emergency personnel find it most hard to deal with incidents involving children and colleagues. Emergency personnel suffer from emotional and physical stress owing to high job demands and repeated exposure to traumatic incidents. Regardless of the traumatic nature of emergency work and the inimitable role of emergency personnel, this study discovered that fact several stressors originate from organisational failure such lack of involvement in decision-making process, lack of training and shortage of staff. Unsupportive work environment, Lack of personal and job resources were found to be the extensive contributory factors to the job pressure experienced by which lead to compassion fatigue and exhaustion. It was also discovered the current EAP programme in the Department of Health (DoH) is not known and inaccessible to EMS personnel. The coping strategies utilised by emergency personnel were not adequate to prevent the aftermath of critical incidents. However collegial and social support from supervisors were found helpful in dealing with work-related stress. The study findings revealed that emergency personnel were unaware of the available support services within the DoH in Capricorn District. Collectively, the findings confirm that there is a need for an extensive marketing strategy of the EAP services and the user-led model which will be implemented by the organisation. The researcher recommends that EAP policies should form part of package given to new recruits during induction or orientation programme and diverse marketing strategies should be adopted to familiarise employees with EAP services available to them. The DoH should consider decentralisation of EAP services to enhance accessibility.

The objective of the research study is to determine, whether Cape Medical Plan has the need for an employee assistance program, the content of such a program, as well as the important principles which are to be considered when implementing an employee assistance program within the organisation. The investigation consisted of 26 staff members participating, of which 9 were managers and 17 employees. With reference to the empirical investigation, it was concluded that a recommendation be made that a formal policy in terms of an employee assistance program be compiled; and be championed by the Human Resource Manager. A model, that will meet the needs of the company, should be followed, to ensure the successful implementation of an employee assistance program. / Social Work / M.Diac. (Social Work)

M.A. (Public Management and Governance) / The study deals with the effectiveness of the HIV/AIDS policy in City Power Johannesburg (CPJ). HIV/AIDS is a worldwide pandemic. Sub-Saharan Africa is the worst affected and very little is being done to suppress its destructive nature. All administrative spheres need to implement workplace policies, procedures and programs to curb and eventually eliminate any new infections and the spread of the pandemic. Whilst workplace policies are a statement of intent and are formulated to guide decision making, they are only effective when formulated, implemented, monitored and evaluated, and reviewed strategically. The methodological approach adopted in this study is qualitative by nature and interpretative. For this dissertation to achieve its purpose, the main study objectives were to determine the objectives of the current HIV/AIDS policy in CPJ, to determine how these objectives have been achieved and what measures could be taken if these objectives are not achieved? The dissertation proposed that in order to curb the pandemic in CPJ, the HIV/AIDS policy will only attain policy effectiveness if various interventions are implemented and adhered to.