The FOH EAP obtained clients’ input about their level of activity and functioning both when they started the EAP and when they finished EAP counseling services. Questions related to:

• Your work productivity as affected by your emotional problems,
• Your productivity as affected by your physical health,
• The interference of physical or emotional issues on your work and social relationships,
• How you perceive your health, and
• Your job attendance/tardiness.

In addition, FOH obtained an evaluation from the counselor of the client's level of life functioning both before beginning EAP counseling and upon completion.

Results found significant improvement in all 6 areas of the person’s life based on their responses to the questions when they just began EAP counseling, and after they have concluded their EAP counseling sessions. Unplanned job absence and tardiness in the previous 30 days decreased by an average of 1.5 days per case, and the counselor’s assessment of the client’s clinical functioning rose by 10 percent. These improvements were seen to a similar degree across clients with all different kinds of assessed problems.

Given the large number of clients and the consistency of the findings over three years, this study strongly supports the health and productivity benefits of the FOH EAP.

Key Findings:

• People who used FOH EAP counseling showed a decrease of 1.5 unplanned work absences/tardies
• People reporting a great amount of difficulty doing their daily work due to emotional problems before using the FOH EAP counseling services reported showed a 73 % reduction in low productivity due to emotional problems.