Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER February 22, 2016 20 FEATURES EFAPs Putting the 'F' in EFAP Educating employees about benefits for family members enhances value proposition By Liz Bernier M ost employee assis- tance plans (EAPs) provide a host of ben- efits and resources not just for employees but for their family members as well. e question is, do employees know that? ere has been a key shift in em- ployer communications around EAPs — or EFAPs, employee and family assistance programs — aimed at informing employees of the full value of these resources, according to Janet Salopek, part- ner at Salopek & Associates in Calgary. "Ten years ago, maybe even five years ago, you didn't really hear about EFAPs — it was always EAPs. So it's really interesting how our terminology has changed, and also the way we communicate the benefits based on who we have in the workforce," she says. at shift in the terminology is telling, says Lori Casselman, assistant vice-president of inte- grated health solutions at Sun Life Financial in Toronto. "ere is a shift that we've been seeing around the use of EFAP rather than EAP," she says. "It var- ies by provider. "e inclusion of the 'family' in the name is important because then it's more intuitive for the employee. So I think that's an op- portunity for employers as well, regardless of the nomenclature the vendor or the provider is us- ing, for the employer to use the terminology around 'employee and family assistance program.' It helps with the understanding in the employee group." Sun Life often sees employers that have a number of resources and supports in place for employ- ees and their family members, says Casselman. "But it is fairly common that employees are not aware that that resource or benefit extends to their family members," she says. "Ultimately, that goes back to the value of communication and education on the employer's part around the resources that they are sponsoring and investing in to support employees." It's also an interesting subject because it's not just about EFAPs — it's about the full value of your benefit plans, says Salopek. "And it's not just about the em- ployees, it's about their families as well, so communicating that and making sure that family members also understand that (is impor- tant)," she says. One of the big things organiza- tions are doing now is providing a benefits statement, and making sure employees understand the benefit in terms of what it pro- vides them, says Salopek. "So what are they entitled to, what are their families entitled to, but also the cost of that benefit so that they understand the value in what that service provides them," she says. "Many organizations are now communicating through the ben- efits statements as one communi- cation prong to get it out. But you need to be doing this and keeping it in front of employees in other ways as well." Employers need to have a comprehensive communications plan to ensure employees are thoroughly aware and educated around the resources they have access to, says Salopek. "You need to include articles about your EFAP programs and those benefits in your newsletter. Any opportunity that you have with respect to maybe blogging online… lots of organizations now have an employee portal where employees can go in and access information about their job, their position, but also their benefits. So making sure that you have really good information on your intranet so that employees can access it through their portal." It's also good to let employees know how the enrolment process works and keep it as simple and straightforward as possible, says Casselman. "It's a fairly seamless process. Typically with employer-spon- sored EAP programs, it's a mat- ter of just using the web platform or the call-in which is typically a 1-800 line, and then referencing the employer… along with the code or password or whatnot that has been provided to the employ- ee to get access," she says. "For the most part, it's just a matter of the employee them- selves sharing that information… en the access is pretty readily available." Engagement, retention benefits Once employees understand the nature, value and scope of the benefits they have access to, it can have a very strong positive impact on retention, engagement and loyalty, says Casselman. "From research that we've done and work that we've done… for example, in our Canadian Health Index research, 93 per cent of Ca- nadians indicated that they are looking for the employer to play a role in helping them to manage their mental health. And so I think for employers, just that general knowledge and understanding that there's such a strong appetite and desire on the part of employ- ees to get that assistance and to be able to reach out through the em- ployer for those resources, I think that's an important message," she says. "Employers who really under- stand the value of these types of programs and that need that they're hearing from employees (should) really be thinking about a strong, frequent, regular com- munications plan so that employ- ees know that resource is there for them and their family members." Sun Life has taken that same sort of model or approach with many of its other health and well- ness offerings provided to plan sponsors or employers, she says. "Things like education pro- grams or some of these other tools around health management, we extend that to family members as well. "We're very conscious that with health behaviours and health management, that group effort or family effort and family support is really key to success." Employers should capitalize on any opportunity to include family members, says Salopek. "e other thing I think is im- portant when we're communicat- ing is that every opportunity we have — where it's relevant — to actually bring family members in to educate is really important. So if you're having let's say an infor- mation session for your employ- ees, and if you create an oppor- tunity for them to bring family members in and have somebody come in and talk about the EFAP, that's pretty powerful," she says. "What we know about the people that are in our workforce, the generations in our workforce, is that our millennials are very family-oriented — they strive for that work-life balance. So fam- ily, family time off, is really, re- ally important to them. And to the extent that organizations can include them, can get the mes- sage out there that your families are important, that will actually help you keep millennials in your workforce." An EFAP is about the total health of the employee, which includes the family, says Salopek. "That's why the EFAP is so aligned with the values of our mil- lennials, and a perfect way to be able to speak to the values of that generation." ere's an opportunity as well to provide information about what types of resources actually are available, says Casselman. "ere's often this sense that it's just access to psychologists, for example, if there's a mental health issue of some sort. And the reality is EFAPs have really broadened the types of offerings that they now have available. So those counselling services, defi- nitely, around mental health is- sues. But also extending to, for example, legal issues or financial issues. ere's all kinds of depth and breadth in the types of coun- selling services that are available." clauses (which are designed to pre- vent the parties from being able to rely on any representation not con- tained in the written agreement) will not serve as a bar to "bad faith" bargaining-related claims. Avoiding claims of bad faith bargaining How the new overarching prin- ciple of good faith established by the Supreme Court will be in- terpreted and applied in practice is still very much up for debate. What is clear, however, is it will impact the way human resource professionals should be negotiat- ing and administering agreements with employees and contractors. First and foremost, this deci- sion may open the door to new types of potential claims. Rather than being focused solely on the manner or timing of termina- tion, bad faith claims may now be based on the manner in which an employment or contracting rela- tionship was negotiated, managed or administered. These new types of claims may be appealing to those who do not have grounds to challenge a decision based on the express wording of their contract but who, nonetheless, feel they have been treated unfairly. ere are a number of mea- sures employers should be taking to protect themselves from claims they have bargained or dealt with employees in bad faith: • Keep notes regarding contract negotiations, especially with re- spect to unique or case-specific issues. • Use standard form contracts that have clear terms setting out the parties' expectations, including potentially contentious items such as incentive compensation and termination entitlements. • Review existing incentive com- pensation policies to clarify minimum required performance thresholds and other eligibility criteria; seek to limit the scope of discretionary decisions, wher- ever possible. • When changes are made to terms and conditions of employment, reduce them to writing and have the employee formally agree to, and sign off on, the changes. • When exercising your rights un- der a contract, ensure you have a legitimate business justification for your decision. • Document any important ques- tions employees or independent contractors ask about their con- tracts and the responses given. • When responding to questions by employees or contractors, do not provide information that is inaccurate or potentially misleading. For example, if an employee asks about her job security, which you know to be tenuous, avoid providing any assurances regarding her future with the company or potential advancement opportunities. • Where performance issues arise, document the problems and the steps taken by the organization to try and address them. By taking these steps, an organi- zation should be able to dem- onstrate it has acted fairly and honestly, and be able to defend itself against bad faith claims, if and when they arise. Ian Campbell is a partner and Steven Rosenhek is a senior partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin in Toronto. Ian can be reached at (416) 868-3540 or icampell@fasken.com and Steven can be reached at (416) 865-4541 or srosenhek@fasken.com. Use standard form contracts GOOD FAITH < pg. 19 Credit: Michael D Brown (Shutterstock)

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