Abstract
In Japan, employee assistance programs(EAPs) have attracted much attention since 2000 when the Ministry of Health and Welfare formulated guidelines for the promotion workers' mental health in the workplace. EAPs have been developed as an off-site mental health service. There are some differences between an EAP as implemented in the US and as it is in Japan. EAPs in the US are aimed at improving the productivity of the organization and provide a much needed-service to resolve job performance issues. However, EAPs in Japan tend to be characterized as a service specific to the mental health of employees. There are some problems related to standardization and quality assurance.
This article aim to report the process of the start-up of our EAP service, mainly for companies in the Chugoku region of Japan, and various problems it faced. It also discusses the current status of EAPs in Japan and problems encountered by them.
