HAVE QUESTIONS? WE HAVE ANSWERS!

• How does this program benefit a business or organization?

  A benefit program helps employees, families and retirees get confidential and professional assistance in addressing personal concerns.
  
  Our professional counselling services and traditional EFAP/ARS Model ensures your organization realizes the benefits of increased productivity and staff morale while decreasing absenteeism, workplace accidents and disability costs en route to caring for your employee's and their families well being.
• Is it cost-effective?

  An increasing number of employers believe that an effective EFAP program can easily pay for itself ; others feel no need to validate the programs' worth in monetary terms. John Williams, Director of Special Health Services for Morgan Guarantee Trust Company, says, "Common sense says that you are getting your money's worth if you are returning people to health and productivity. We don't try to prove 'cost effectiveness' in treating employees who have cancer or heart disease, so why do it with alcoholism or drugs?"
  
  When all factors are combined, it is estimated that up to 24% of the work force enters the workplace each day with some form of significant personal difficulty causing distress. If left unresolved, each one of these issues has the potential to affect harmony at home and at work, the ability to perform, safety, personal health and job security.
• Are there statistics that speak to Health & Safety efforts?

  In addition to the personal and job performance difficulties created by the use of alcohol and other drugs, there is a very real concern for Safety at the workplace. There are very real benefits in paralleling the efforts of EFAP programs with Health and Safety efforts to realize the attainable goal of an "accident free" workplace. While some employers, employee groups and unions are sometimes reluctant to proceed with the development of an EFAP program because it will cost too much ( no "ROI") or that the problems in their workplace are "not that bad", consider the following statistics:
  
  

  • An alcoholic employee costs the employer 25% of their salary package each year. In 1990, Alexander and Alexander Consulting Group for McDonnel Douglas Corp. in the U.S. found that each worker with an alcohol or drug abuse problem was absent for 113 days more than the average employee and filed $23,000.00 more in medical claims over a five year period. Their dependants also filed some $37,000.00 more in claims than the average family.
    
    
  • The cost of alcohol and drug abuse to business and industry in the U.S. is estimated to be in excess of $50 billion annually. When the total costs, including the financial challenge to the Health Care systems are calculated, the figures become astronomical.
    
    
  • $1 - $3 billion dollars is lost annually in Canadian business due to alcohol related problems.
    
    
  • 18% of all industrial accidents resulting in permanent disability are attributed to alcohol/drug abuse.
    
    
  • Up to 48.5% of all accidents in mining, railway and forestry are believed to be alcohol/drug related.
    
    
  • 50% of alcoholics are women; 25% are office workers, like secretaries and bookkeepers.
    
    
  • 30% of alcoholics are blue collar workers, often in skilled trades; 45% are professional and managerial people.
    
    
  • Alcoholic employees are absent from work 2.4 times more often than non-alcoholic employees with 2.5 times the number of absences of 8 days or more, 3.6 times the accident rate and 5 times the number of compensation claims as compared to non-alcoholic employees.
    
    
  • An estimated 25% of employee health care dollars have been linked to alcohol and drug problems.
    
    
  • Rehabilitation rates average 70% for EFAP clients suffering from alcohol abuse.
    
    
  • 15% suffer behavioral health problems, other than alcoholism.
    
    
  • 3% - 5% of the work force misuse drugs like valium, demerol, codeine, cannabis and cocaine.
    
    
  • A National Institute of Mental Health report indicated that one out of three suffers from a mental, emotional or substance abuse problem in their lives.
    
    
  • It is believed that 20% of Canadians have some type of mental disorder and only 25% of them are thought to be receiving any kind of treatment.
    
    
  • Between 5% - 15% of people hospitalized for Psychiatric diagnosis could be effectively treated with quality care on an outpatient basis.
    
    
  • A Canadian Government study showed that 46% of all work disabilities were caused by emotional disorders.
    
    
  • At least 65% of Canadian workers are dismissed for personal, rather than technical reasons.
    
    
  • DuPont Company, which supports an extensive and generous EFAP Program, has found that 80% of its alcoholic workers with long service records recover with treatment.
    
    
  • General Motors Corporation reports a 65 - 70% success rate with addicted employees. The car maker estimates that it gains $3 for every $1 spent on care.

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