Many, if not all of you, pursued and remain in the benefits profession because you want to help and support people.

You get excited when you hear that a health fair helped previously unaware employees understand their risk for heart disease.

You puff up anytime anyone mentions the high participation and contribution levels in your company's 401(k), knowing you've helped employees secure their future in retirement.

What you may hear less about - yet just as significant - is the number of employees and families whose lives are positively affected by your employee assistance program.

As far as our society has come in erasing the stigma attached to accessing EAPs and mental/behavioral health benefits, many employees still are much more reticent to open up about the value of those benefits, as opposed to health or retirement - which is completely understandable.

However, I encourage you to continue to value your EAP and stay vigilant to make sure its offerings are robust and adequately serving employees' needs.

Seventy-three percent of employers offer an EAP, the Society for Human Resource Management reports, up 2% from last year.

Usage of the programs has increased, too, as total calls were up 23% from 2005 to 2006, BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota finds.

Most callers sought help in dealing with work, family and personal issues:

• 20% called about marital issues.
• 17% workplace stress.
• 17% depression or other mental health issues.
• 7.6% substance abuse problems.

I want to remind you these programs are helping people, since reporting this month from senior editor Robert Whiddon shows EAPs may not be getting much attention from employers and advisers.

Cobbs Allen & Hall consultant Bobbie Harris told him brokers are less interested in the programs because they "don't make any money off of it."

Furthermore, a survey by EBN's sister publication, Employee Benefit Adviser, reveals 54% of brokers infrequently or never bring up EAPs with their clients.

However, as benefits managers, are you bringing up employee assistance programs in discussions if your broker or consultant does not?

Are you regularly reviewing your EAP's utilization, satisfaction and outcomes and holding your vendor accountable?

I encourage you to read Whiddon's EAP feature on page 30 and discuss it with your staff, chief financial officer and broker to find practical ways to reaffirm your organization's commitment to its EAP.

Granted, EAPs are inexpensive, and stress and marital problems aren't directly driving benefit cost increases as much as obesity and diabetes.

However, it's no secret that emotional problems tend to manifest themselves physically and often run comorbid to chronic physical disease.

Also, you might want to view examining EAP utilization as a valuable data mining opportunity for your company. Benchmarking employees' experience against these types of averages could point up actionable information - for example, potential ways to reduce your organization's employee stress levels when compared to other employers.

Lastly, just like employees may not tell you when they've been helped by an EAP, they likely won't tell you when they're in distress, either. This month's Editor's Inbox features a letter from mother Carol Loehr, whose son committed suicide after struggling with depression.

I certainly don't mean to suggest that an EAP alone would have saved his life.

However, employers' ongoing commitment to such programs is just one more way to make the benefits industry the true helping profession that I know it to be.

Send letters, queries and story ideas to Editor in Chief Kelley Butler at kelley.butler@sourcemedia.com.