Employee confidentiality is critical to the success of mental health services for workers. Essentially, the Employee Assistance Program, offered as part of an employee’s benefits package, is similar to medical insurance, but its focus is on supporting employees psychologically. EAP consultants provide psychological advice for staff and act as mediators between employees and management, thus creating a comfortable and healthy working climate.

The EAP professionals keep strong confidentiality of any information provided by the clients according the low regulations of each country. This is the demand of professional ethics and the result of clear understanding that the success of the program and the trust are lean on employee and certitude of his (her) family member that this service regards wit the respect to their private life. 

To guard confidentiality, EAP consultants filter all employee information passed to managers. They avoid at all costs giving away names of employees and speak only about “tendencies” among members of staff. For instance, if it turns out that employees tend to overwork, stay late in the office, become exhausted, upsetting their balance between personal and professional life or between work and family, management can immediately take action to eliminate the problem, but it doesn’t need to know the names of employees who are suffering.

Confidentiality means:

• All communication between you and your counselor are private.
• No one from your workplace or private life will be given verbal or written confirmation of your attendance at counseling.
• Any remarks shared with your employer are presented in a general, non-identifying way about the employee group as a whole, never your specific situation.
• Case files are stored in a secure location and are not released to anyone without written consent or under court order.