EAPs in the 1990s

Abstract

From alcoholism to individual, family and organizational wellness, Employee Assistance Programs have been on the cutting edge of demographic and social change in America. There is no other explanation for their explosive growth. But today a dramatically different demographic workforce is emerging, one which demands new responses in the form of new skills and approaches if Employee Assistance Programs are to continue to meet the challenges of the 2lst century. This article first will sketch the past responses of Employee Assistance Programs to evolving demographic and social changes. It then will present a corrected version of the widely-known central demographic forecast of Workforce 2000, and will identify two dramatic new challenges to which Employee Assistance Programs will have to respond in the future: the microchallenge of interpersonal communication, and the macro-challenge of an integrated systems perspective. As has been their defining characteristic in the past, Employee Assistance Programs once again will Fmd themselves responding to new challenges.