Employee assistance programme in the South African Police Service : a case study of Moroka police station

Abstract

Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs), when they first were introduced in the United States of America (USA), were support programmes providing assistance to alcohol addicted employees. During the 1960s, EAPs became comprehensive and offered employee assistance services (EAS) such as financial, marital and family, psychological, work-related stress, chemical dependency (alcohol and drugs), depression, health, anxiety, and even job boredom problems that affect employee work performance. Since then, EAPs have proven to be valuable because skilled and high performing employees who experienced problems could receive assistance in the workplace and once they overcame their problems, they often became more productive and more employers could benefit from EAPs. Due to the benefits provided by EAPs to both employees and employers, South Africa is one of the many countries that have adopted this performance-enhancing strategy. EAPs in South Africa are a relatively new workplace management phenomenon designed similarly to the USA model and thus do not have a long history. In the South African Police Service (SAPS), EAPs are as a result of the operational nature of policing services and the demanding conditions under which police services are carried-out. The EAPs are provided as a means of employee support to promote employee wellness and to create a working environment that is conducive to an effective and efficient delivery of police services. This research investigated the implementation of EAPs at Moroka Police Station, the biggest of the eleven (11) police stations that are situated within Soweto. This station serves approximately a total population of two hundred and fifty thousand (250 000) community members. The research gathered opinions of three selected groups of respondents (non-commissioned officers, EAP practitioners and commissioned officers) about the effectiveness of EAPs in the study area and how they can be improved. Employees in this police station, as in many others, are exposed to daily traumatic events since their duties require them to attend to crime scenes such as murder, collisions of varying seriousness, and often witness the murder of their colleagues. These incidents have a profoundly adverse impact on their psychological well-being and work performance. The findings show that even though remarkable progress has been made with the institutionalisation of EAPs, there are a few concerns which still require management’s attention. From the results of the interviews held with the non-commissioned officers, a few concerns, that if attended to could improve the effectiveness of EAP, include concerns about non-commissioned officers’ lack of knowledge of the functions of EAP, their general experience of EAP, the credibility and adherence by EAP practitioners to ethical guidelines, the frequency of the consultations as well as concerns about the accessibility of the EAP to them. The findings of the interviews held with EAP practitioners tended to be less complimentary than those gathered from non-commissioned officers, and a longer list of concerns was recorded. Numerous concerns that relate to the circumstance under which they administer EAS were articulated. These include concerns about how employees perceive the EAP and their understanding of EAS. Lastly the findings of the questionnaires administered to the commissioned officers, as compared to both the findings gathered from the non-commissioned officers and EAP practitioners, were more positive, especially their understanding of the EAP, how the EAP functions, their overall experience of the services provided through the EAP and their overall satisfaction of the EAS. Although the findings were positive there were few concerns that they identified as needing attention. These concerns are the functions of EAP, implementation of EAP, general experience of EAP, feedback from the EAP practitioners and resistance by employees to consult EAP practitioners. This research concludes by offering recommendations for each of the three groups, and by offering a research agenda for further investigation in this field.