Comparing Employee Assistance Program (EAP) providers can become difficult when each proposal describes the service differently. One emphasises access, another highlights a session allowance, and a third leads with its annual fee. Your team still needs a clear answer: what will employees receive, how will they access it and what will the organisation pay?
A useful comparison brings those questions into the same format. Ask each provider for written answers, separate included services from optional extras, and mark anything that still needs confirmation. Then assess the proposals against your workforce’s needs.
If you are starting with the basics, our guide to Employee Assistance Programs explains what an EAP is and where it fits in workplace support. This checklist focuses on the next decision: comparing providers before requesting or accepting a proposal.
1. Set out what your workforce needs
Write a short brief that each provider can answer. Include your workforce size, locations, working patterns and the types of access you need. A team working standard office hours may have different appointment needs from a workforce spread across shifts or time zones.
Specify who you want the program to cover. Employees, contractors and family members should be listed separately so eligibility is clear. Ask about language and accessibility needs rather than assuming they are included.
Choose a few essential requirements before reviewing quotes. You might need online appointments, a defined session allowance and a workable referral process. Keep these separate from services you would consider later.
Comcare’s better-practice EAP guidance recommends designing the program around organisational and worker needs. A shared brief gives providers a consistent starting point. Comcare: Principles for Better Practice Employee Assistance Programs
2. Check the route from first contact to a session
Ask the provider to walk you through the employee’s first booking. Who makes the initial contact? Is there an intake conversation? Can the employee choose a practitioner? What happens if the first available appointment does not suit?
Separate access to a booking system from access to a clinician. A website accepting bookings at any time does not establish that counselling appointments or urgent support are available around the clock.
Request a clear explanation of appointment availability and any service targets. Ask how those targets are measured, what happens when they are missed and whether the answer applies to your locations, preferred languages and delivery format.
A demonstration can make the process easier to assess. Use an agreed test or demonstration rather than creating a clinical booking merely to explore the system.
3. Verify who delivers the support
Ask which professionals deliver each service and how the provider checks their qualifications, experience and ongoing professional requirements. Confirm whether the quoted arrangement gives access to counsellors, psychologists or a particular mix of practitioners.
For psychologists, check current registration through Ahpra’s public register. For counsellors, ask for their qualifications and any professional membership or accreditation, then verify those claims with the named body. These are different credential checks. Ahpra: Tips for using the public register
Also ask how practitioners are matched to a person’s needs, whether an employee can request a change, and how complaints about care are handled. A list of practitioner numbers is only one part of the service description.
4. Ask exactly what the employer can see
Request the employee-facing confidentiality information and an example of any employer report, using fictional or suitably de-identified data. Ask what is collected, who can access it, what reaches the employer and how confidentiality limits are explained.
For a small workforce, ask how the provider manages the risk of identifying someone from a small reporting group. Removing names alone may not be enough. The OAIC explains that de-identification depends on the context and the possibility of combining information to identify a person. OAIC: De-identification and the Privacy Act
Record the provider’s answer in writing. Avoid filling a gap in the proposal with your own assumption that a report is anonymous or that confidentiality has no exceptions.
5. Compare the whole cost and the same assumptions
Ask for an itemised quote covering the same workforce, contract period and service scope. Check:
- Access, administration or setup fees and any minimum spend.
- Included sessions, session length and which practitioner types are covered.
- Whether the allowance is per person, per issue or a shared organisation-wide pool.
- Charges beyond the allowance, including any different practitioner rates.
- Cancellation, late-cancellation and non-attendance charges.
- Optional services, applicable GST and any other charges.
- Renewal terms, notice periods, price changes and arrangements when the contract ends.
Then ask each provider to calculate the cost using the same two or three usage scenarios. Make clear that these are planning assumptions, not predictions of how many employees will seek support.
A headline annual fee is easier to interpret when you can see what it includes and which events create an additional charge.
6. Clarify support limits and referral arrangements
Ask what happens when a person’s needs fall outside the program’s scope or their included sessions are used. Who discusses the next step with the employee? How are onward referrals arranged, and who pays for any further care?
Clarify urgent-support arrangements separately. Ask whether urgent assessment, crisis response or critical-incident services form part of the proposal, what the hours and response process are, and which services sit outside the contract. Do not treat an ordinary appointment-booking route as a confirmed emergency response service.
7. Agree how service quality will be reviewed
Discuss how the provider will report on access, service delivery, feedback and problems that need action. Ask who handles the account and how an unresolved issue is escalated.
Comcare recommends monitoring service processes and outcomes while being careful not to overstate the EAP’s contribution. In practice, a session count can describe use, but it does not establish that the program caused a change in absence or staff turnover. Comcare: Principles for Better Practice Employee Assistance Programs
Choose measures that answer your organisation’s questions and can be reported without compromising employee privacy. Agree on the review process before signing.
Your EAP comparison checklist
Copy the table below into your own document or spreadsheet, then complete it for your shortlist. In each provider column, record the answer and the document, clause or demonstration that supports it. Use Not confirmed where evidence is missing.
| Criterion | Our requirement | Provider A: answer and evidence | Provider B: answer and evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eligibility and service scope | To complete | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Booking process and appointment availability | To complete | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Practitioner credentials and choice | To complete | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Confidentiality limits and employer reporting | To complete | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Session allowance and additional charges | To complete | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Total cost under agreed usage scenarios | To complete | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Referral and urgent-support arrangements | To complete | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Service review, complaints and contract terms | To complete | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
Add the quote date and version to each proposal. Keep a separate list of open questions, who will answer them and when you need the response. An unconfirmed answer is a follow-up item, not proof that the provider cannot meet the requirement.
A hypothetical example: two annual fees
Imagine a small business receives two proposals.
Provider A quotes an annual access fee, then invoices separately for completed sessions. Provider B quotes an annual fee that includes a shared session pool, with additional sessions charged separately.
These are fictional arrangements, not descriptions of Resplora or named competitors. To compare them, the business asks both providers to price the same workforce and usage scenarios. It also checks whether the practitioner mix, session length and cancellation rules match.
The questions extend beyond cost: what happens when Provider B’s pool is exhausted, and how will the business track spending with Provider A? Both providers are asked to confirm access and reporting arrangements.
The result is a comparison of the service the business expects to buy, with the unresolved points visible.
Take a focused shortlist to the next conversation
Review each proposal against your essential requirements. Ask shortlisted providers to resolve the remaining questions in an updated written proposal. Confirm that any promises made during a sales conversation appear in the documents you will rely on.
Keep the EAP within a broader workplace approach. Employers still need to address psychosocial hazards, including harmful job demands, poor support and unclear roles. Counselling does not remove those conditions. Requirements depend on the relevant jurisdiction. Safe Work Australia: Psychosocial hazards
If you would like to consider Resplora, explore our workplace EAP options and bring your completed requirements to the conversation. Ask for a proposal that makes the scope, access arrangements and costs clear for your organisation.
This article provides general information for Australian employers. It is not individual clinical, legal or procurement advice.
