How can I get my team to use our EAP?
Insights.
Like any investment, an EAP (or EAP alternative) has the potential to realise positive dividends, but only if employees use it. This is where many employers need help, and post-sales activation support from their EAP provider can often make or break the success of their wellbeing program.
Unfortunately, some EAP providers struggle to provide post-sales activation support because they are not resourced accordingly and/or their systems are inefficient or out of date. As an example, some EAP account managers carry the responsibility of caring for hundreds of customers at a time - with no ability to customise employee promotional collateral with customer logos, and limited access to meaningful data, insights, research, or thought leadership that could help their customers stay ahead of employee wellbeing trends.
Did you know?
- Most customers (58 per cent) will switch their service to a competitor because of poor customer service, said a study of 5,000+ customers.
- Proactive post-sales support and education can lead to more favourable customer-level outcomes than when requests are initiated only on the customer's side.
This blog post shares examples of best-practice employee engagement support, discusses what a 'good' EAP uptake rate looks like, shares case studies, and explains whether Sonder is an EAP.
Examples of employee engagement support
Choosing an EAP (or EAP alternative) provider is a big decision if you want to make a meaningful difference to the safety, health, and wellbeing of your people.
If you get it right, you could make a genuine impact in the lives of your employees, and positively impact organisational productivity and profitability.
If you get it wrong, you might find yourself in the same position next year - making excuses for low employee engagement rates and scrambling to secure an ongoing budget for wellbeing support services that don't seem to be working.
To help you understand what a best-practice provider could offer for post-sales activation and employee engagement support, we've put together a handy checklist that gives examples for both employee and employer engagement:
What is a 'good' EAP uptake rate?
In a previous post, we discussed how the average EAP uptake rate was around 5 per cent for traditional EAPs and up to 40+% for modern EAPs (or EAP alternatives).
We also shared the following examples from our Sonder customers:
- Best&Less went from three employees to 146 employees reaching out for support in one month by changing to an EAP alternative.
- Probe CX went from a three per cent to a 51 per cent employee uptake over three months by switching to an EAP alternative.
- Woolworths Group found that 56 per cent of their employees who reached out for help would not have sought support at all without the EAP alternative they provided.
Some of the reasons for our high utilisation rates include our holistic wellbeing model, broad offering, proactive approach, and one-stop-for-help model which improves employee recall of where to go for support when they need it and helps build employee trust across all of the services offered.
Is Sonder an EAP?
Sonder is an EAP alternative. We combine mental health support with safety and medical support. We also combine on-demand technology with 24/7 human expertise, as explained in our video:
Want to learn more?
For more information about how Sonder can help you rethink your employee and/or student support, we invite you to contact us here.
Download our deep-dive report
Today's blog post shares excerpts from our new 'How to compare EAPs' guide, which we invite you to download here. This insider's guide to employee assistance programs will help you:
- Define a typical EAP offering
- Summarise why employee uptake has been low
- Discover what makes EAP alternatives different
- Learn how to compare vendor offerings
- Gain insider tips and statistics
- Write a convincing business case
About Sonder
Sonder is a technology company that helps organisations improve the wellbeing of their people so they perform at their best. Our mobile app provides immediate, 24/7 support from a team of safety, medical, and mental health professionals - plus onsite help for time-sensitive scenarios. Sonder clinicians hold certifications across the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. This puts us alongside leading hospitals and healthcare institutions around the world.
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There's so much more to share
Sonder is reimagining health, safety and wellbeing support. Sonder proves human centric care leads to earlier intervention. Sonder impacts one person at a time to drive meaningful change across an organisation. Sonder understands people and how to support them.
