An Evaluation of the Employee Assistance Programme Policy Implementation in the Department of Labour

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the EAP policy implementation in the Department of Labour. The study was conducted at the Department of Labour Mpumalanga and the target population was all the supervisors in the Department of Labour in Mpumalanga. The sample size of the study was 70 supervisors in DoL, representative of all the Business Units in the organization, wherein only 41 respondents participated in the study. Stratified random sampling was utilized to draw the sample from the population by dividing the population in terms of the sub-groups. The required number of respondents was further selected by using the random sampling method. A theoretical overview on EAP and EAP policy implementation procedures and activities was provided through a literature review. In the literature review, focus was on the following aspects: historical development of EAPs, the introduction of EAPs in South Africa, the legislative framework for EAPs and their implications, the concept and types of evaluation and the reasons for conducting evaluation of the EAP policy implementation. The literature review section concluded with the overview of the department by focusing on: the mandate of the Department of Labour, including the core functions performed by the employees in different areas of responsibility and the challenges faced by the employees in their calls of duty. These challenges provided an indication of the realities that employees are confronted with and which may result in those employees to seek for assistance from the relevant EAP section in the DoL. The quantitative-descriptive survey design was used in the study. Both the quantitative and qualitative approach was used in the study, the latter approach allowed respondents to express their views regarding the subject. The study revealed that generally, respondents had an understanding of the EAP policy; however the awareness of the EAP policy statement and implementation plan was very low. Therefore, there is a need to improve on the EAP marketing strategy in order to increase the awareness of the EAP services, operational procedures. From the findings it became clear that there is a lack of training for supervisors, management and union representatives. Based on the findings of the study, conclusions and recommendations were made regarding the improvement of the EAP policy implementation guidelines in the Department of Labour.