The theme for this month came from a real-world situation that brought home the value of an easily overlooked benefit — employee assistance programs. In fact, I've overlooked mentioning EAPs in this column even though management of our EAP service at Mutual of Omaha is one of my responsibilities. Our EAP provides services, which we market alongside our disability and life products, to over a million people, covering a broad range of employers and a national footprint. 

It's easy to think of EAP services in the traditional way. For years, EAPs have provided eligible employees and their dependents services related to personal and family issues as well as drug and alcohol abuse. The EAP menu of services can include 24/7 telephone access to EAP professionals, web toolkits, print and online resource materials, face-to-face visits with a counselor, translation services, grief counseling, and many other services. 

But in today's world, EAP services have evolved. For one thing, the value of EAP services is amplified whenever there's a traumatic event. 

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.

Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.