The researcher is employed at Aventis Pharma as an Employee Assistance Practitioner since 2001. Employees at Aventis Pharma do not utilize the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). They wait for supervisors to refer them to the EAP for assistance. The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons for the resistance of troubled employees to utilize the EAP at Aventis Pharma. In this study, a qualitative approach was the most appropriate because the researcher’s intention was to get information on employees’ perceptions, not numerical data. The researcher intended to ascertain the respondents’ feelings, perceptions and opinions based on their resistance to utilize EAP. The researcher utilized applied research because Royce (1991:19) states that its findings are used to solve problems of immediate concern. The researcher utilized applied research in order to understand the problem in detail and to generate knowledge with regard to solving the problem of resistance. The researcher utilized an exploratory design that is more qualitative in nature. The purpose of the exploratory study was to gain insight into a situation, phenomenon, community or person (Bless&Higson-Smith, 1995:42). The researcher explored the respondents’ perceptions, feelings and opinions of EAP to find out their reasons for not utilizing the EAP. A phenomenological strategy was utilized. The aim of the researcher was to understand perceptions, feelings and opinions about utilizing the EAP from various respondents. A literature study as well as an empirical investigation was implemented in this research project. Respondents were gathered on a sampling basis and a semi-structured interview schedule was used to gather information from the respondents at Aventis Pharma. In this study the semi-structured interview schedule helped the researcher to gain knowledge and understand the respondents’ perceptions, feelings and opinions on the utilization of an EAP. The interview schedule consisted of open and close-ended questions. A tape recorder was used to ensure that all the necessary information was recorded. After collecting information, it was analysed and interpreted and the researcher compiled a report to document the research findings. The researcher conducted a pilot test with 2 employees who were not part of the main study and this helped the researcher to check the effectiveness of the interview schedule before it could be done on a large population. The research population for this study was the employees of Aventis Pharma. The company is situated in the east of Pretoria. It consists of 215 employees. The boundary of the sample consisted of 12 employees at Aventis Pharma. The company consists of skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled employees. The respondents were employees who are semi-skilled, those who have standard seven to a diploma. The respondents were between the ages of 20 and 55 years, males and females from various race groups. For the purpose of this study, the researcher utilized the non-probability purposive sampling. The in-depth interviews revealed the following: The majority of employees knew about the EAP, marketing was done within the company but some employees could not differentiate between the EAP and social work. Different types of written materials were used to introduce the programme in the company. Employees do not want supervisors to refer them to the EAP; they want to consult on their own. They believe that if a supervisor refers you to the EAP, it means you have problems. The employees’ resistance to consult on their own forces the supervisors to apply a mandatory referral. On the issue of supervisory training, employees feel that supervisors should not be trained on EAP. They believe that supervisors will not leave their jobs and became EA practitioners. For most employees, supervisory training is a waste of time. / Dissertation (MSD (EAP))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

Employee Assistance Programmes are the various interventions in the workplace, which are aimed at helping employees who are experiencing personal and work-related problems. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a need for a structured Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) at Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital. In this study, the researcher utilised a quantitative approach due to the nature of the research topic under investigation, which is geared towards the assessment of the needs of employees for an EAP, because she wants to base her knowledge gained on objective measurements of the real world, not on someone's opinion, beliefs or past experiences. The researcher utilised research in this study to explore the need for an EAP programme that might be designed/introduced to solve employee problems. For this study, the researcher opted for a combination of an exploratory-descriptive design, due to the fact that little is know about the phenomenon, group or programme. The researcher used a combination of interval/systematic sampling and random sampling to complement each other in eradicating any bias that has the potential of occurring when applying interval/systematic sampling. To achieve representation and precision in this study, the researcher divided the total population of 525 Sterkfontein employees into five categories according to their departments and attached the actual number of employees in a particular department as reflected in the staff establishment document of Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital to the appropriate stratum. The results derived from this endeavour were thus: Management (25), Clinical Staff (45), Administration (44), Nurses (253) and the General Assistants (158). The researcher divided each employee in each respective category by one tenth or 10% in order to know how many respondents from each category could be included in the sample, and added together all the figures derived from such a division to obtain a sample size of 53 respondents for the study. As a result, the researcher came up with the following respondents in five (5) categories of employees: - Management (3), Clinical (5), Administration (4), Nurses (25) and General Assistants (16). The researcher compiled only one questionnaire for all five (5) categories of Sterfontein Psychiatric Hospital employees because EAP recognises that employees start from the CEO to the lowest paid employee in the company and, as such, considers all employees to be equal. The investigation illustrated some limitations in the normal running of the hospital. Most of the respondents had both personal and work-related problems, which impacted negatively on the hospital. There were no mechanisisms in place that were geared towards helping troubled employees or providing skills in handling troubled employees. Hence, from these limitations, it became clear that there is a need for an Employee Assistance Programme at Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital. / Dissertation (MA (SW))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Social Work / unrestricted

Employee Assistance Programme is a work-site based programme design to assist in the identification and resolution of productivity problems associated with employees impaired by personal, legal, emotional, stress, or other personal concerns, which may adversely affect employee job performance (Terblanche, 1999:4). The researcher was motivated to conduct this study by her observation of social problems at the hospital as well as and the hospital’s CEO’s interest in the EAP. The literature review had little on the concept of EAP in hospitals. The majority of information used in this study is on the rationale, goal and the functions of EAP. Secondly, the researcher consulted the experts and pilot tested the questionnaire. This study was aimed at exploring a need for the employee Assistance Programme at Johannesburg Hospital. The sample comprised of 74 staff members chosen from different disciplines in the hospital. The approach of this study is a quantitative approach, the type of research is applied research and the research design is exploratory research. Research procedures and strategy used is a hand delivered questionnaire. The information gathered was presented through tables and figures. The researcher found that there is a need for an Employee Assistance Programme for the employees of the Johannesburg Hospital. The form and type of service required were that of internal or indigenous EAP, with offices in the social work department and should be run by the social work department. Based on the researcher’s opinion, a combination of the internal and external EAP is more beneficial in that the two have the scope of practice that is advantageous when blended together. For instance internal EAP will provide resources such as counselling while external EAP will provide rehabilitation resources. / Dissertation (MA (Social Work))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Social Work and Criminology / Unrestricted

The study was mainly to investigate the need for an Employee Assistance Programme at Reamogetswe Secure Care Centre, North West Province. EAP is a worksite programme aimed at assisting troubled employees to improve their work productivity and enhance their social functioning. The investigation was comprised of a literature study about EAP in order to gain an understanding of it. A questionnaire was designed and handed out to employees of the Secure Care Centre to complete. Empirical findings were gathered based on the information from the questionnaires, which were completed and returned by the respondents. The findings in the study suggested that there is a need for implementing an EAP at the Centre to assist with problems affecting employees. The findings suggested that 93.8% of the respondents agree that the Centre should take responsibility for employee’s welfare. The majority of the respondents further indicated that they prefer to have an EAP practitioner always at the Centre. The study also revealed that if employees experience problems be it personal or work related or a combination of both, they need to assist to enhance their social functioning. / Dissertation (MSD (EAP))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

This actually an investigation into the need for an Employee Assistance programme in the Jubilee Community Hospital. This programme is said to be effective in dealing with the employee's problems for it focuses on addressing all the social problems, which influence job performance. The study was conducted within the framework of a survey design. Three categories of questionnaires were designed and handed out to employees, supervisors and members of the management to complete. From their response it was clear that employees at this particular hospital experience problems which influence their job performance and are being left unattended. The study shows that there is no Employee Assistance Programme in this hospital. Most of the troubled employees sought help privately from the neighbouring social workers. This method of seeking help is not conviniet to the employees because it is not accessible and it is time consuming as they need to take a day's leave to attend to their problems. It is evident that there is a need for a qualified employee assistance practitioner in this hospital who will attend mainly to the employees' problems, who will be trained to do so. A formal policy with regard to EAP is also essential in this hospital. / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2000. / Social Work and Criminology / MSW / Unrestricted

Within the socio-economic sphere, the development of women in the workplace is hindered by the dynamics of health and wellness issues such as HIV and AIDS, their gender dispositions and their social struggles around balancing work and family life. Furthermore, the impact of HIV and AIDS on business has become a priority agenda to address skills attrition and absenteeism. The UN declaration of Commitment (UNAIDS, June: 2001) which prioritizes the needs of women and children, is one of the interventions as a global effort to address the millennium development goals. Through this study, the researcher had investigated, in particular, whether there are difficulties experienced by working women infected or affected by HIV and AIDS. Furthermore, the study investigated the role of EAP in respect of these difficulties. The study is divided into two parts: one that is exploratory in nature in which a qualitative research approach was applied through semi-structured interviews whilst the other was quantitative research in which the survey research design used a questionnaire as the data collection instrument. The following conclusions were made from both the qualitative and quantitative data collected: • Working women infected and affected by HIV and AIDS have difficulties in the work place due to HIV and AIDS. • EAP is supporting working women infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. • There is a need for more resources to support EAP to be involved in strategic decision and business risk management. • The business has put in place measures to manage HIV and AIDS in the workplace through HIV policy formulation and establishment of HIV and AIDS programmes. It made sense for this research to present a picture regarding the extent of women participation in the world of work at a global level and efforts that the workplace have put in place to integrate women. Firstly the investigation defined HIV and AIDS and the intrinsic dynamics of HIV and gender. It then probed the prevalence of HIV and AIDS in the workplace in terms of the impact on the business with focus on women and the difficulties they experience as HIV infected and affected women. This was the focus of this part of the study. Secondly, the role of EAP in general was investigated, with the focus on the impact of EAP with regards to HIV and AIDS and working women. The goal of the research study was defined as: To explore and describe the role of EAP in addressing the difficulties experienced by working women, resulting from the impact of HIV and AIDS. The research question and sub-questions were formulated to give the study focus. The questions included: • What role, if any, does EAP play in supporting HIV infected and affected women in the workplace? • What is the perceived role of EAP in supporting HIV infected and affected women? • What is the perceived role of HIV infected women with regard to the effectiveness of EAP related to HIV and AIDS in the workplace? • What are the difficulties of running a functional EAP service in the context of HIV and AIDS? • What are the feelings of HIV and AIDS infected and affected women in their workplace? The study identified the type of research as applied research. Two phases of the study were carried to understand the challenges of working women with HIV and AIDS faced and the response of EAP. The first was a qualitative study, exploratory in nature, which focused on a sample of women who were either infected or affected by HIV and AIDS. This part of the study aimed to understand their perceptions and experiences of the challenges they faced at work. Furthermore it aimed to understand how they experience and interface with EAP. In the qualitative study, the aim was to understand the role and response EAP has made in South Africa particularly in relation to HIV and AIDS but with specific focus on working women. A case study research design was followed to gather data regarding attitudes, perception and experiences directly from respondents in their natural environment. The aim was to understand and interpret the meaning they give in relation to EAP in their workplace. A non-probability sampling method was used for the qualitative study. In this part of the study, a purposive sampling strategy was used and data was collected through semi-structured interviews of a sample of 24 working women (12 HIV infected and 12 affected by HIV and AIDS). The exploratory research findings confirmed that women infected and affected by HIV and AIDS do have difficulties in the workplace due to HIV and AIDS. The difficulties included psychological, financial and time lost due to HIV and AIDS. It further confirmed that the extent of the difficulties leave women with mental health issues and hopeless feelings, in some cases suicidal. The difficulties were further intensified by the perception that stigma is the key barrier to disclosure and business intervention strategies. All women had used EAP and found it useful during their difficulties. However, they found the role of EAP as positively evident at an individual level to address women’s needs in counselling, however at a company level women did not think EAP was addressing their needs to impact business changes. In the quantitative part of the study, a non-probability sampling method was used based on convenient sampling. There was however a replacement sample used based on a target sampling method for spoilt questionnaires. The quantitative part of the study confirmed the perceptions of the women that were affected and infected by HIV and AIDS. The quantitative study indicated that women were using EAP for HIV and AIDS counselling. The services of EAP that the women used assisted them with issues related to mental health difficulties, especially for depression and bereavement. In addition EAP practitioners were offering practical help such as home visits and referral to other services. The results further indicated a need for more resources to make strategic input and leadership involvement at a business level. The goal of the study and study objectives were achieved and are presented together with detailed recommendations in the research report. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

Please read the abstract in the dissertation Copyright / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted