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employee assistance programs (EAP) can greatly benefit the organization implementing EAP and its team members. An EAP is essentially opted for by the company to enhance the efficiency and productivity of its employees by relieving them from the reasons causing stress and afflict their personal and professional existence.

The changes that an EAP can bring about in an organization's efficiency are numerous. While some of these improvements directly add to the bottom-line, quite a few changes add to the long term improvement of the organization. An EAP normally deals with a range of problems - from drug abuse to failing marriages. If implemented successfully, it helps and more importantly, empowers team members to effectively tackle various professional and personal problems that may be detrimental to their productivity. It also helps the employees keep themselves focused on the job. Absenteeism, which is one of the major problems faced by the many companies, can be drastically reduced by EAP*s. If stress can be purged, the working environment becomes much safer as professional hazards become rare when the focus remains on the job. Job satisfaction is enhanced, leading to low rates of attrition. As a combined effect it makes the working environs harmonious and conducive for all the individual entities and accelerates growth by increasing the cost efficiency of an organization.

The effectiveness of EAP can be judged from the words of the market watchers who have observed that the trend of utilizing EAP's has steadily been increasing. Over the past few years the percentage of corporate entities offering EAP to its members has slowly nudged its way into the double figure mark. The number of employees responding has also shown a corresponding rise. And this trend is expected to continue. Another important point that should be paid attention to is that the average age of the employees responding to EAP's has come down indicating that the younger team members, who will form the core team members in coming years are more receptive towards EAP*s, making more sense for any organization to adopt an EAP.

EAP makes sense for any organization as the investment required to implement the program is just a fraction of the increase in the profit margin resulting from the better working environs and mental clarity brought about by the EAP.