Employee assistance program (EAP)

An employee assistance program is an employer-paid service that gives staff confidential short-term counselling and support for personal or work problems.

Also called: EAP, employee and family assistance program, EFAP

What employee assistance program (EAP) means

An employee assistance program (EAP) is a service an employer buys from an outside provider that gives employees, and often their families, free and confidential access to short-term counselling and practical help. Common areas include stress, mental health, grief, relationship or family problems, addiction, and money or legal questions.

The employer pays for the program, usually as a monthly fee per employee or as part of a group benefits plan. Employees contact the provider directly, by phone, video or online, and the employer is not told who used it or why.

No law requires a small private employer to offer an EAP. Many choose to because it gives staff a place to turn when something is wrong, without the owner having to act as a counsellor.

How it works

Choose a provider or check whether your group benefits plan already includes one. Look at what is covered: how many counselling sessions per issue, whether family members are included, whether it offers services in French or other languages, and how fast someone can get an appointment.

Tell employees about it more than once. Put the EAP phone number and website in your onboarding package, on the staff noticeboard, and in any message after a hard event at work. Make it clear that it is confidential and that you will not know who calls.

Mention it at the right moments, without pressure. When an employee is struggling with a death in the family, a separation, or attendance problems linked to personal stress, you can suggest the EAP as one option. Do not require someone to attend, and do not ask afterwards whether they went.

An EAP can sit alongside statutory leave. Ontario's domestic or sexual violence leave can be used for counselling, for example, and Alberta's domestic violence leave covers counselling too. The EAP may be one of the services the employee uses during that leave.

An EAP is not a substitute for the duty to accommodate, a proper harassment investigation, or medical care. It is a support, not a process for handling workplace problems.

Is it the same in every province?

EAPs are private services, so they work the same way across Canada. In Quebec, check that the provider can deliver counselling in French.

Example: After a hard winter at a St. John's restaurant

Fiona owns a 15-person restaurant in St. John's. After a staff member dies suddenly, she notices several employees are struggling. Her group benefits plan includes an EAP that she has never really promoted.

She posts the EAP number in the staff room and sends it by text to everyone, explaining that calls are confidential and free and that family members can use it too. She tells her managers to mention it if a team member seems to be having a hard time, without asking whether they used it.

Onboarding checklists in Staffkin

Staffkin's onboarding checklists let you add a step to give every new hire the EAP contact details on their first day.

Start free

Free tools and guides for this

Questions about employee assistance program (EAP)

Do I find out if an employee uses the EAP?

No. EAPs are confidential. Providers may give you anonymous usage totals, but not who used the service or why.

Can I require an employee to go to the EAP?

You should not. An EAP is voluntary. You can suggest it, but requiring it can affect trust and is not a substitute for accommodation or discipline processes.

Is an EAP part of group benefits?

It can be. Some group benefits plans include an EAP, and some employers buy one on its own.

Official sources

General information for Canadian employers, not legal advice. Rules differ by province and territory and change over time, so check with your provincial employment standards office (or the federal Labour Program if you are federally regulated) before you rely on it. See employment standards by province.

Checked against official sources on 4 November 2026.