The study aimed to investigate the trends and patterns in Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) services from ICAS Southern Africa. The sample was forty RFPs from the public and private sectors. The sample of forty was drawn from the ICAS Southern Africa archives of RFPs for 2012 to 2016, using probability sampling. The quantitative research approach was followed, using document analysis design. The researcher utilised the content analysis technique to extract the information from the RFPs and quantify it into a coding sheet. The findings reflect changes in requests for EAP services by corporate clients in South Africa over the past five years. There was a trend towards the integration of services from the EAP, Health and Wellness, Work-life and other related fields. The service delivery models requested also showed changes with electronic services emerging strongly, which presents an opportunity for the three fields to further integrate and provide holistic services. / Mini Dissertation (MSocSci)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Social Work and Criminology / MSocSci / Unrestricted

SAPS is currently implementing an EAP. Supervisors are an important link in the EAP process because they are the first persons to identify a troubled employee and to refer the employee to the EAP. Owing to her knowledge of an EAP and her interest in supervisory training, the researcher was asked to assist with the development of a supervisory training programme. The researcher has been employed as a social worker in the SAPS for ten years. In practice it happens that commanders refer troubled employees to the EAP when the commanders do not know what else to do with the troubled employees. At that stage the problems that the employees experience are of such a nature that long-term therapy is needed to attend to them. At times the commanders will act as social workers instead of referring the employee to the EAP. The researcher wanted to establish empirically what the role, knowledge and the attitude of commanders within the SAPS are regarding the EAP. The researcher decided to explore the topic by means of a literature study regarding the EAP in the SAPS and supervisory training and to interview several experts in the EAP in the SAPS and two experts in private organisations. An interview schedule was compiled and tested on one respondent. The information gained from the interview was sufficient and the researcher could go ahead with the data collection. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two percent (2%) of the commanders in area West-Metropole. The researcher interviewed one (1) Senior superintendent, two (2) Superintendents, four (4) Captains and three (3) Inspectors. None of the respondents had previous training in the EAP. A stratified random sample was used to select the respondents. From the information gathered from the respondents, the researcher achieved the objectives of the study and provide answers to the three (3) research questions, namely: • What is the knowledge of SAPS commanders regarding the EAP? • What is the knowledge of SAPS commanders regarding their role within the EAP? • What is the attitude of SAPS commanders towards the EAP? The researcher determined that the respondents had limited knowledge regarding the EAP and the services rendered by the EAP professionals in the SAPS. The respondents all knew that they had to refer the troubled employee to the EAP but some of them first tried to be the social worker before they referred to the EAP. Therefore it is important that the distinctive roles of the commander/supervisor and the EAP are identified. All the respondents felt positive towards the EAP in the SAPS and said that they self would make use of the services of the EAP. Although the researcher could not generalise the findings, sufficient information was provided to make the following valuable recommendations: recommendations regarding the content of a supervisory training programme, the marketing of the services rendered by the EAP in the SAPS and the steps that could be taken to ensure confidence in the EAP. / Dissertation (MSD (Employee Assistance Programme))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

Employees and organisations of the modern workplace exist in an extremely stressful, demanding, and competitive environment, which adversely affects the health and well-being of the individual employee and the organisation. Employees are recognised as the most important asset of any organisation, and their health and well-being play a critical role in the productivity, profitability and competitiveness of the organisation. Employers can improve employee performance and consequently organisational productivity by promoting both healthier individuals and healthier work environments. The extent to which employers are able to maintain optimal performance, together with commitment, high morale, and well-being of their employees, will ultimately determine their level of success. Employers are, therefore, constantly searching for means that would promote employee health and well-being, and as a result also enhance organisational issues, such as productivity, efficiency, and competitiveness. The implementation of an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is a conventional and trusted programme that produces such outcomes. The presence of pets in the workplace could possibly contribute to the field of employee assistance. According to research, the human-animal bond, and the positive interaction between humans and animals have a beneficial impact on the well-being, and quality of life of people from all age, and target groups. If these general health-enhancing benefits of pets on their human companions are experienced in the workplace, it may benefit the economically active adult population, as well as the organisation. Consequently, the implementation of a pet-friendly workplace policy may be an innovative means to enhance the outcomes of an EAP. The goal of this study is to explore the potential for implementing a pet-friendly workplace policy in a South African work environment as a means to enhance the outcomes of an EAP. The study was conducted in conjunction with employees from Lowe Bull Calvert Pace (LBCP), a leading advertising company in South Africa. Twenty-eight employees participated in the study. The study complies with a quantitative approach, as an electronic semi-structured self-completion questionnaire was developed and utilised to explore perceptions and opinions about the presence of pets in the workplace. Several interesting findings were made about the perceived functions, benefits, and drawbacks of pets in the workplace, as well as the overall opinion to the idea of pets in the workplace. The study also identified issues that need to be considered during the actual formulation of a pet-friendly workplace policy. Generally, research describes the benefits of pets for the more vulnerable people in society - those who are often not part of the economically active adult population. However, a pet-friendly workplace policy could benefit the economically active adult population and the organisation. This exploratory study reveals that a great deal still needs to be done before pets can be introduced into the South African work environment. It may however, in the near future, be possible to integrate a pet-friendly workplace policy as a logical, but limited, component of a comprehensive EAP as a means to enhance the outcomes of the programme. / Dissertation (MSoc.Sc (Employee Assistance Programme))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Social Work / unrestricted

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 purpose of this study was to explore and highlight positive psychological strengths that are required and, to a lesser extent, negative psychological factors that are to be eliminated in employees attending EAP in the public service in order to make the EAP beneficial and successful. EAPs in the public service have not been as successful as expected because employees drop-out prematurely and/or benefit minimally from attending their sessions. Through the use of a qualitative research approach, this study explored positive psychological strengths that played a significant role in assisting employees attending EAP to achieve their health goals. Research data was collected through the narratives and in-depth interviews from eight participants, who shared their EAP experiences with the researcher. The collected data was analysed through the use of content analysis and positive psychological strengths in the form of themes emerged. The themes were compared with the framework of positive psychology, which is known as the VIA classification system of strengths and virtues framework, in order to determine alignment or compatibility with it. In addition, a few negative emotions were also reported as having been experienced by the participants while attending EAP. The results of this study indicate that certain positive psychological strengths possessed by employees while attending EAP contributed significantly in making them benefit from their EAP consultations. Although a few negative emotions were also reported as having being present during the EAP consultation, they did not affect the progression and success of the EAP. An EAP intervention model is recommended herein for future use, in order to facilitate the success of EAP sessions. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

The purpose of this study was to explore and highlight positive psychological strengths that are required and, to a lesser extent, negative psychological factors that are to be eliminated in employees attending EAP in the public service in order to make the EAP beneficial and successful. EAPs in the public service have not been as successful as expected because employees drop-out prematurely and/or benefit minimally from attending their sessions. Through the use of a qualitative research approach, this study explored positive psychological strengths that played a significant role in assisting employees attending EAP to achieve their health goals. Research data was collected through the narratives and in-depth interviews from eight participants, who shared their EAP experiences with the researcher. The collected data was analysed through the use of content analysis and positive psychological strengths in the form of themes emerged. The themes were compared with the framework of positive psychology, which is known as the VIA classification system of strengths and virtues framework, in order to determine alignment or compatibility with it. In addition, a few negative emotions were also reported as having been experienced by the participants while attending EAP. The results of this study indicate that certain positive psychological strengths possessed by employees while attending EAP contributed significantly in making them benefit from their EAP consultations. Although a few negative emotions were also reported as having being present during the EAP consultation, they did not affect the progression and success of the EAP. An EAP intervention model is recommended herein for future use, in order to facilitate the success of EAP sessions. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)