Does your Employee Assistance Program proactively address workplace mental health? Are they reaching out and screening employees — like those out on disability, or who have recently given birth, or are dealing with grief, or who have a chronic disease — who are at risk for mental health problems?

Has your EAP proposed outreach to employees identified on your health risk assessment as possibly depressed, or are those employees getting lost in a black hole? Does the EAP train managers and potential peer supporters on how to identify and address mental health problems?

A lot of EAPs default to a passive role as network manager and referral system (with some outdated work/life perks thrown in). Employers enable this, too often content to do little more than publish the EAP phone number and then bemoan low utilization.

Tip: During your next quarterly meeting with your EAP, ask how they’ll proactively support the mental health of all your employees and their families. If this level of involvement isn’t in your contract with them, build it in at your next renewal… with performance guarantees.