An Evaluation of the Employee Assistance Program in the Montgomery County Public School System.

The Montgomery County public school system presently provides assistance through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to troubled employees with problems which affect work performance. EAP's mandate is to provide crisis intervention, prereferral evaluation, information, referral, and follow-up services. From its inception to March, 1981, EAP provided services to 943 employees with the following types of problems: job-related problems, substance abuse problems, family problems, and others. The present study was initiated by the Employee Assistance Program to determine the program's impact upon employee clients and the supervisors who had referred employees to EAP. The study's major purposes were to determine: (1) To what extent did EAP enable troubled employees to function more effectively because of program intervention? (2) To what extent did EAP reduce time-consuming activities of supervisors and other personnel related to the problems of troubled employees? (3) To a limited extent, the study also examined selected aspects of EAP's organizational procedures, including intake and referral functions, confidentiality, and recordkeeping procedures. Telephone interviews were conducted with a sample of employees (n=80) representing 21 percent of the population that had used EAP services from the fall of 1979-1981. Findings, limitations and recommendations are discussed. (PN)