Teacher counseling services for teaching staff not only help improve their mental health and wellbeing, but also provide long-term benefits for their students — and attractive cost-effective outcomes for South Australia’s Department for Education.
Counseling services for staff returns over three dollars of benefits
Research into the Department’s existing Employee Assistance Program (EAP) has found that every dollar spent on counseling services for staff returns over three dollars of benefits through improved staff absenteeism and “presenteeism” (full job performance).
Research has found that every dollar spent on counseling services for staff returns over three dollars of benefits through improved staff absenteeism and ‘presenteeism’ (full job performance). (Image: via Pixabay)
The published research took a fresh, expansive view of cost-effectiveness that encompasses long-term outcomes, according to the report’s senior author, Professor Donald Shepard. He said:
“To incorporate the full impact of employee-funded counselling services for teachers, you also have to measure how their good health ultimately benefits student outcomes.”
The results are significant. Professor Shepard says fiscal benefits of $A1,365.79 per counseled employee were 3.34 times greater than the cost ($A409.27) — a highly favorable result. Including a projected increase to student lifetime earnings of about $A76,000 per year would raise the benefit-cost ratio to 3.51, adding:
“The issues at stake here are broad. Most large organisations — both in the US and Australia — have EAP programs, so this research can be applied and will be of interest to many international stakeholders.”
The Journal of Workplace Behavioural Health has just posted the article Cost-benefit analysis of an employee assistance program for a geographically dispersed workforce in South Australia, by Tony Elson, Susan Heinrich, Jane Richards, Rama Wirawan, and Donald Shepard. The article is the first known controlled benefit-cost evaluation of an EAP.
The research began during Professor Shepard’s stay in Adelaide as the Fulbright Distinguished Chair of Applied Public Policy at Flinders University and Carnegie Mellon University in Australia. It was finalized following his recent return to the U.S. where he heads the Cost and Value Group at Brandeis University in Boston.
The published research took a fresh, expansive view of cost-effectiveness that encompasses long-term outcomes. (Image: via Pixabay)
In addition to quantifying the benefits and costs of the Department’s EAP, the article also addressed the challenges of staff outside of metropolitan Adelaide, and especially those in remote areas. While telephone sessions were available for EAP users, in-person sessions were better accepted.
The average number of sessions by in-person-only participants is 49 percent higher than by telephone-only users. This preference for in-person sessions presents a significant challenge for staff in regional and remote areas, where the nearest counselor would be many hours away.
National survey data indicated that regional and remote residents face greater mental health risk challenges than those in major cities. However, utilization of EAP services was significantly lower for Education Department employees outside metropolitan Adelaide compared to those in the city.
The study recommends proactive measures to increase the utilization of EAP services outside of Adelaide, including seminars, videos, business cards, and other promotional materials for this beneficial service.
Provided by: Flinders University [Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.]
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