Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) serve organisations and their employees in multiple ways, ranging from consultation at the strategic level about issues with organisation-wide implications to individual assistance to employees and family members experiencing personal difficulties. As workplace programmes, the structure and operation of each EAP varies with the structure, functioning, and needs of the organisation(s) it serves.

In general, an EAP is a set of professional services specifically designed

• to improve and/or maintain the productivity and healthy functioning of the workplace and to address a work organisation’s particular business needs
• through the application of specialised knowledge and expertise about human behaviour and mental health.

More specifically, an EAP is a workplace programme designed to assist: (1) work organisations in addressing productivity issues, and (2) "employee clients" in identifying and resolving personal concerns, including health, marital, family, financial, alcohol, drug, emotional, stress, or other personal issues that may affect job performance.