Shaking Up Employee Assistance Programs with Jonas Eyford, Recharge Wellness

Employee Assistance Programs, when done correctly, can help you support your employee's health and wellbeing.

Bill Banham's guest this time is Dr. Jonas Eyford, CEO at Recharge Wellness, a company offering custom wellness programs for organizations across Canada. The firm provides an employee support service (to enhance or replace an EFAP), on-site clinics, and wellness webinars.

In late 2022, Jonas and his team made a major upgrade by launching a disruptive EAP which, he says, is "set out to fracture the stale reality of poor engagement with a wholly different approach to EAPs & mental health."

Questions for Jonas include:

•  In terms of mental and physical health,  how much harm did the pandemic do to the wellbeing of today's employees? 
• Tell us about the new Employee Assistance Programme from your team and why it's unique. 
• What HR processes need to be in place to support EAPs? 
• What about HR leaders? Do they get enough support?
• Why is the use of mental health benefits consistently lower in older generations? 
• Does the EAP industry need disruption? If so, why?

More About Jonas

Jonas is a chiropractor and consultant living in Toronto. He is passionate about transformation, exploring the challenges of behavior change through physical and psychosocial means.

He founded Recharge Wellness in 2013. Clients include Loblaw Digital, Flipp, Top Hat, Wave HQ, Loopio, CGI, Live Nation, Ticketmaster, Clio, Architech, Soho VFX, League, Universe, Invesco, Vena Solutions, and Supreme Cannabis.



We do our best to ensure editorial objectivity. The views and ideas shared by our guests and sponsors are entirely independent of The HR Gazette, HRchat Podcast and Iceni Media Inc.   

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome to the HR Chat Show, one of the world's most downloaded and shared podcasts designed for HR pros, talent execs, tech enthusiasts, and business leaders for hundreds more episodes and what's new in the world of work. Subscribe to the show, follow us on social media, and visit hr gazette.com.

Speaker 2: 0:26

Employee assistance programs, when done correctly, can help you support your employees health and wellbeing. Hey, this is Bill Banham , host of this episode of the HR Chat Show, and my guest this time is Dr . Jonas Efford , c e o over at Recharge Wellness, a company offering custom wellness programs for orgs across Canada. The firm provides an employee support service to enhance or replace an E F A P onsite clinics and wellness webinars. In late 2022, Jonas and his team made a major upgrade by launching a disruptive e a p , which he says it's set out to fracture the stale reality of poor engagement with a wholly different approach to aaps and mental health. Jonas and I, we've known each other for quite some time now, actually listeners , uh, and he , uh, he attended and exhibited out events that we produced in Toronto back in the day before the pandemic. And , uh, it's been a while since we've had a good chit chat . Jonas, it's my pleasure to welcome you to the show today.

Speaker 3: 1:28

Thank you so much, bill. It's a real pleasure to be here. I think because I've always seen you at the heart of all the congregations and conferences that have happened over the last , uh, 10 years or so in the HR communities that we strolled around in. Uh, I've always been looking forward to the times we talk, and it's seldom that I get the chance to have a , a scheduled , uh, chat with you . So it's an honor and a privilege. Thanks for having me ,

Speaker 2: 1:51

Jonas. I already know what a lovely guy you are, but our listeners perhaps don't. So why don't we start there? Uh , why , why don't you take a minute or two and introduce yourself?

Speaker 3: 1:59

Well, I could just say about myself , um, suppose a few simple things. I, I'm , I'm Canadian, but I grew up overseas in the South Pacific , um, Papua Guinea in the jungles. And , and , uh, since being back in, in Canada, I , I devoted myself in adulthood to, to healthcare. And after a short stint , uh, working as a clinician, I, I had the opportunity to work with , uh, w h O on a few projects , um, overseas. And it was a real eye eyeopening experience and opportunity for me to explore how else I could have an impact in this world that we live in. And I learned about myself that I really do want to have an impact broader , um, than the impact I can have working with people one-on-one. I I really do love that work , but, but it was special to be working on healthcare policies that impact hundreds of thousands of people in , in one sales swoop. So that inspired me to think bigger and to grow. So I sold my clinics and , um, in early thousand 12 , and since then, I've been devoted to corporate wellness because that's the opportunity I really recognize to make an impact on our Canadian society. You know, leverage the fact that everybody , uh, who has an employer here has the opportunity for their employer to , to support them really well. And , uh, I think sometimes that's done well, and sometimes there's opportunity to do a lot more of that. So, threw myself in the game and, and here we're

Speaker 1: 3:27

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Speaker 2: 4:05

Okay. Before we get into the details of what you guys are doing at the moment and how , how it's helping, I , I'd like you to maybe give us a bit more of an overview and, and talk a bit about the context that we're currently living through. How , how much damage did the pandemic do to, to the ongoing health of, of employees in terms of mental health, in terms of things like weight gain, in terms of drug addiction, there's been big increases there. Um, just give us an , just , just give us an idea of what the challenges are at the moment facing HR pros and leaders.

Speaker 3: 4:43

I actually see it a little bit differently. It , it certainly did spur on some , um, changes individually with lots of people and then collectively as groups. But , um, I think what actually happened, if, I think the big picture is it unveiled an underlying problem, an underlying lack of resilience and ineffective support. And I think that that's what the pandemic so vigorously taught us, is that we need to do better. And we have a lot of people who are struggling. And I think that ultimately has been a very helpful thing, as much suffering as it , uh, caused, it's been helpful collectively to bring our attention to these important matters. The fact that five, 10 years ago, people weren't really doing that much for mental health as a, as a baseline. You know, companies were, were having kind of plications and, and things there as arbitrary supports, but it wasn't a focal point of the conversation. And now it is. And that's exciting because now that , you know, big, big percentages of our groups, our teams, our communities that struggle with a whole variety of issues, they now have this opportunity to share their story and to express their challenges and concerns, and we have the opportunity to do a better job in supporting them .

Speaker 1: 6:08

Thanks for tuning in to the HR Chat podcast. If you're enjoying this episode, we'd really appreciate it if you could subscribe and leave a five star review on your podcast platform of choice. And now back to the conversation.

Speaker 2: 6:25

Okay. So part of what I heard there is it had to get pretty bad for people to recognize the importance of the issue, but the silver lining in that cloud is that people are moving on it now and they're respecting , uh, the importance of supporting one's mental health and , and, and other needs. Is , is that, is that fair to say?

Speaker 3: 6:44

Precisely.

Speaker 2: 6:46

So tell us now, tell us about now about the the new employee assistance program , uh, that , that you guys have rolled out and why it's unique. So, for example, I understand that your partner network of doctors and therapists are encouraged to reach out and onboard each other , uh, with in depth one-on-one conversations. Tell , tell us more.

Speaker 3: 7:06

You got it. That's, that's the only thing I would highlight right off the bat, because , um, that's for one, the only thing that really makes us unique, and two, most people listening to this would understand the basics of what an EAP does and is. We are the only Canadian e a p that does proactive work. And this was the reason why we even launched as an e a was because this is meaningful. We have our team of doctors and therapists who onboard each user one-on-one through conversation, through connecting with them. And what ends up happening is the people have a very different experience. This is a , a proactive process where we explore all the person's desires, goals, challenges, and then we decide what to do rather than trying to guess or survey what people need and try to fit with some boxes and things , services that they can help themselves to . So, so that's really what our e EAP is set up to do, is, is use proactive engagement, connect therapists and doctors with individuals and let the rest work itself out.

Speaker 2: 8:16

How time intensive is that, what , what , what sort of time investment comes into that? If you're talking about huge companies , uh, tell us a little bit about the , the HR processes that go behind supporting that kinda effort.

Speaker 3: 8:29

Well, very, and that's actually why we exist. Um, if HR leaders had the opportunity to have in-depth one-on-one conversations well , and the training to, you know , be sensitive to it from a healthcare perspective , uh, with their big teams growing teams, then , then this wouldn't be required. This wouldn't be valuable, this would be needed . So it really is something that takes a lot of time . But the reason why we're able to sustain the business doing this, even though it's a big investment from our end upfront with the time of our doctors and therapists, what ends up happening is the outcomes are significantly better. So instead of , um, um, having a lower time investment upfront and having , uh, a slow burn, we put the time in upfront to do a really good job triaging people to exactly what they need and, and helping them avoid what they don't need. And that ends up being worthwhile in the end because resources are distributed, much more effic efficacious.

Speaker 2: 9:33

What about HR leaders themselves then? Uh , do , do they get enough support?

Speaker 3: 9:39

They often, no, but not for the same reason. I think they, they more than anybody know what resources they have access to, obviously, because they curate them. But I think from all my years working with HR leaders, I've come to understand there's some collective characteristics that are quite common. Um, they're servant leaders. These are people who put the interest and needs of others in , in front of their own oftentimes . And that can be problematic, even though they know that they need to model behaviors, they need to show people that they're using and they can have conversations about their mental health, they're also very unlikely to do that. They suffer before they complain or they raise the flag. And so, yes, they have support, but they need a different type of support. I think maybe I'm getting a little too philosophical here, but I think HR leaders, they need support internally from themselves. They need permission from themselves and they need support from their teams so that they know that they can be comfortable in having the balance that they need to be well, and using the time and resources to keep them well that they need . So I think it's a bit different for the HR leaders themselves and for the, the general set of employees.

Speaker 2: 10:54

Ok . You , you've got me, you've got me on a , on a road now that I wanna continue driving down with you. Um , any, any particular department that , um, that you've seen from, from your time working with various different companies, of course , uh, that, that do jump on this stuff faster than others that , that , that do , uh, insist upon , um, new ways to ensure that their health is as , as good as it can be? Sales departments, for example,

Speaker 3: 11:18

Departments? No, you know, honestly, I can't say that there's any pattern outside of any one group and individual companies. Yes, there'll be some , you know, very different cultural tendencies in these certain groups, but I think what, what patterns we've noticed is , is more to do maybe with generations. I think there's a lot of the , um, younger generations, especially with the SaaS companies and tech companies that we work with , that they're very , um, they're very ready to engage in mental health conversations and , and work through the web of finding the right support. And I think that's been a very inspiring thing to see cause that bodes very well for the, for the future, frankly. And I think that's a , that stigma that we've all experienced in our early careers and, and the culture , uh, in general is now dissolved for the most part, at least in the bubbles , uh, that we're exposed to.

Speaker 2: 12:19

That's great. For, for the Gen Zs and maybe some of the younger millennials, you mentioned the , the stigma used word stigma. Do , do you think may , perhaps that's still exists a little bit with older generations, is that why , uh, the use of mental health benefits is consistently lower in in those groups?

Speaker 3: 12:37

Yes, but that's the, that's the beauty of the work that we're doing. Now, not only do all these HR teams that we're working with do an amazing job of talking about having conversations , uh, on a regular basis in lots of different ways about mental health, and that breaks down the , the preexisting stigma. Um, but we're also, as, as the resources that we have are , are much more accessible, much more friendly, and, and in our case, proactive. So we, we are seeing that, yeah, maybe there's remnants of that stigma, but really I don't think it's, it's preventing people from getting the support they need any more in this context.

Speaker 2: 13:17

Now then, as I mentioned earlier on listeners , uh, I , I've had the honor of knowing Jonas for a fair few years now, and Jonas, you exhibited at an innovate work event held in Toronto back in 2019 . Uh, there you did some tests on me , uh, to discover my physical health age. I , I , I'm not sure the the exact term. I do apologize. Um, uh, I liked the results. Maybe you're trying to flatter me. I, I dunno . But I was , I was happy enough with the results. I was , I was , I was pleased as punch , really. Um, but it's , uh, it , it opened up my eyes and, and it, it , it made me realize, gosh, what if, what if the results weren't great? Uh , at least I just had an opportunity , um, to, to do a bit of an m o t a bit of a , a check. Uh, it was, it was all quick and easy and , um, very helpful. Why should others take a , a pulse like that? What , what , what kinda quick Health checkup put into perspective for, for other folks out there?

Speaker 3: 14:12

Well , I'm, I'm glad you remember that, and I'm glad you bring that up because it, it does represent something very powerful and very significant and it , and a tool, and regardless of what specific kind of checkup it is, that what that represented was that was a , a wellness checkup. That was something that we're doing biometric testing to find out how your brain and body are functioning independent of symptoms and dysfunction. So you weren't having a problem. We, we, we got to check to see what's happening under the surface and see where you could optimize what opportunities you have to optimize your health and wellbeing. And that's what got me excited about that particular thing. That's why we do things like that is because when we have, when we create an opportunity for people to, to um, check in to figure out how they're feeling and whether they could be feeling better both biometrically and cognitively, that's a really powerful opportunity because then we start to know, okay, we get clarity on how to invest our efforts in improving our lives, improving how we feel, and that's preventative medicine. That's how we optimize our health. And that's what one thing we we're really excited about in , in our company, the work we do is that we get to optimize people's lives to prevent crises . We don't just wait till someone's in crisis and having some sort of a dysfunction. Which, if I can rewind a little bit to your previous question, that's, that's also a big reason why people don't really use their, their mental health supports and benefits as much as they, they need to is like the , the need is, is much higher than the use. I think every HR person sees that. Um, because it's not always clear. We, we don't know a wake up one day, oh, I have burnout. No, I have anxiety. No, we , we just feel things on , on discomfort, the exhaustion, fatigue. So for a lot of people, that's the support they need is to figure out what they're dealing with. They don't know that they have anxiety. They don't know that what they've experienced in the past might be affecting them today or their , their sleep is, is poor because they're dealing with something, you know , a little bit unclear . So that's, that's part of it. And then also once you do decide, okay, I wanna improve how I feel, then navigating this wonderful healthcare network in , in our country is , is sometimes challenging. You know, mental health is the , the most , um, well sharp example of that because to find a therapist, for example, a psychotherapist psychologist that you mes you out with is very uncommon. So you generally need to encounter several or at least get some good guidance on where to start, what type of therapist, what type of specialist. And that is often very discouraging because we don't even really know we need help. We only know if something's a little off, but then it takes all this time to go book with these different people. And I didn't like that conversation with the first one . That's a very common thing that we hear people stop working on their mental health because , oh, I tried a therapist that didn't really work for me. And that's , that's awful. That's awful. That that should be the end of the journey. So , so I think that's, that's another element of supporting people that needs to be in place generally in , in the corporate wellness world,

Speaker 4: 17:31

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Speaker 2: 18:06

Picking up on what you mentioned there a moment ago. Uh, that , that's huge. If , if, if you can help prevent that, that that issue when, when someone's feeling , um, depressed down, vulnerable, insecure , uh, and they, they try and seek mental health , but , uh, it , it, there are barriers or it doesn't work out with those first couple of conversations and , and they would otherwise give up because they are feeling low, they are feeling more insecure. That's a , that's a huge, that's , that's a huge thing . So kudos to you guys . Uh , we're coming towards the end of this interview already . Jonas, two more questions for you before we wrap up . Uh , the next one , kinda in summary, I guess , but let spell it out for, for our listeners. Uh , but kinda in summary of what we have said so far, Jonas, the question is, does the EAP industry need disrupting? And if so, why?

Speaker 3: 18:58

I love this question. Uh , yes, yes , absolutely it does. However, I don't, I don't think the EAP industry is broken per se. I don't, I don't think it's broken. It's just there's a massive opportunity to do so much more, and that's why it needs disrupting. That's what we're set out to do . This massive opportunity is these big swaths of our teams, these big percentages, 32 to 41% of groups by statistical averages are struggling with mental health challenges. And eight to 11% is the average engagement in the EAPs. And it tapers down very quickly once people use it. And that's for these reasons we've already discussed. And so there's the opportunity. You have 20 , 30% of your workforce that is going through something and not helping themselves to any support for these complex social reasons. That's our opportunity. And when we can engage them with professionals in conversations that reveal the way to help those people to elevate their employee experience and their life, frankly, then that is worth disrupting the EAP in industry for. So that's what we're up to do. And we've, we've proven that it works, which is what's so exciting about what we're doing. And , uh, so I think there'll always be a place for traditional EAPs big companies with tens of thousands of employees, industries, accounting, banking, that , that sort of more stagnant industries, that good , that that fits, that fits with what works there. Um , but for the younger hungry companies, the fast growing SaaS companies with two , 300 people that really value their talent, their, their , their talent , uh, it's this very competitive space and they need to worry about retention and invest in their people. This is a great opportunity and that's why I think it's worthwhile for us to invest in making this disruption.

Speaker 2: 20:59

Rock and roll. And just finally for today, Jonas , how can our listeners learn more about you? Uh , so maybe you might wanna share your email or LinkedIn. I bet you're a super cool young dad and you're all over TikTok and of course <laugh> . How , how can they learn more about all the cool things happening over at Recharge Wellness?

Speaker 3: 21:19

Well, I think I'd have to invite people to a good conversation. I just love talking about this stuff. And so I've had so many great conversations with HR leaders around the country and many that we don't work with. It's just, I'm part of this community and there's lots of innovations happening in the space, and I love problem solving . So, so I welcome anybody who wants to find me on LinkedIn to, to reach out, just to have a conversation about where they're at, what they're dealing with. And if nothing else comes outta it, but a bit of shared advice, then I'd be delighted. And , uh, if people wanna find us , uh, our company Recharge eap ca is our domain, and so we can get in touch there as well . And , uh, sadly I'm not on TikTok , but uh , I'll leave that one for you, bill. I'm sure <laugh> you can represent the young cool Dad. No ,

Speaker 2: 22:08

I'm

Speaker 3: 22:08

Not cool enough on TikTok .

Speaker 2: 22:10

Not cool enough Jonas

Speaker 3: 22:11

<laugh>

Speaker 2: 22:12

That that's a social platform beyond me. Um, okay, well that just leads me to say for today, Jonas, it's been a pleasure catching up with you. Thank you very much for being my guest on this episode.

Speaker 3: 22:22

Thank you so much for this opportunity to have this great conversation. I appreciate it.

Speaker 2: 22:27

And listeners, as always, until next time, happy working.

Speaker 1: 22:33

Thanks for listening to the HR Chat show. If you enjoyed this episode, why not subscribe and listen to some of the hundreds of episodes published by HR Gazette and remember for what's new in the world of work, subscribe to the show, follow us on social media and visit hr gazette.com.