Web-based Employee Assistance Programs: A new exploration of employee service

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are free, voluntary benefit which plan to help employees and their families cope with everyday problems. EAPs provide a wide range of services including short-term counseling, crisis intervention, occupational mental health and referrals. Since their rise approximate fifty years ago, EAPs have undergone fundamental changes. They have extended range and deepened the intensity of the services which they offer to employees and currently many EAPs offer a wider range of counseling. As the number of EAPs has grown, their organizational structure has become increasingly more complex and need a fire-new pattern to adapt it. The appearance of web has just met the demand of EAPs´ development, and it forms a new mode: web-based Employee Assistance Programs. This article describes EAPs, their history, development, and reviews the cases of web-based Employee Assistance Programs. It sets the stage for considering EAPs as we move into the web-based century.