The effects of employee assistance programmes on workers' performance in selected work organisations in Ondo and Edo states, Nigeria

Abstract

Employees feel that their employers are disinterested in their personal issues mid difficulties, so they in turn feel no sense of care or belongingness towards the organisation which in turn becomes detrimental to the attainment of organizational objectives. It is against this background that this study examined the influence of employee assistance programmes on workers' performance in selected work organisations in Ondo and Edo States. Descriptive survey research design of the expost facto type was adopted for the study. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select three hundred and sixty (360) workers' from work organisations. A questionnaire tagged "Employee Assistance Programmes and Workers' Performance. Questionnaire" (EAPWPQ) with reliability coefficient of 0.87 was used for the study. Findings showed that there was no significant effect of counselling programme on workers' performance (r = -.124, r2=.0154; P >.05); that there was significant effect of stress management programme on workers' performance (r = .593, r2=.3516, p < .05); that there was a significant effect of supervisory programme on workers'performance (r = .645 r2, =.4277,p < .05); that there was a significant effect of conflict management programme on workers' performance (r = .679, r2 =.461,p < .05). There was a joint contribution of the four independent variables to the prediction of the dependent variable (R = .743, R2 of .551). There was relative contribution of each of the four independent variables to the dependent variable in the ascending order: counselling programme (β =-.132, t=-3.56), stress management pragramme (β = .092, t= 1.54), supervisory programme (β = .296, t= 5.21) and conflict management programme (β = .426, t=8.00). The findings concluded that Employee assistance programmes such as counselling programme, stress management programme, supervisory programme and conflict management programme have positive influence on the performance of workers. Based on these findings, it was recommended that the management of organisations where employee assistance programmes are absent should introduce these assistance programmes so as to take care of the welfare of their workers as it has been proven to have positive influence on the performance of workers' in the workplace. The study also recommended that the industrial social worker should help to make sure that the workers' are aware of EAPs, their benefits and why they should make use of the available employee assistance services in the organisation.