Colorado State Employee Assistance Program Replication and Expansion Study

In 2023, Omni partnered with the Colorado State Employee Assistance Program( CSEAP) to replicate their groundbreaking research study originally funded by the Employee Assistance Foundation (EARF) in 2013. The original research, published in three peer-reviewed publications, established a new standard for evaluating Employee Assistance Program (EAP) effectiveness through the use of a rigorous quasi-experimental design with propensity score matching to assess the impact of EAP services on absenteeism, presenteeism, and workplace distress. The 2023 replication, funded by the Colorado State Legislature, applied the same methodological rigor to examine how EAP services are meeting the needs of state workers in a post-pandemic, hybrid work environment marked by heightened mental health needs.  

This study arrives at amoment when organizations are urgently reevaluating how to support their teams.Compared to a decade ago, employees are now reporting higher levels of anxietyand depression. Yet, consistent with the original study,  employees who received EAP servicesexperienced measurable improvements in anxiety and depression symptoms comparedto peers who did not seek and receive EAP support.  These findings provide robust empiricalevidence of the impact and value of EAPs. Beyond informing CSEAP’s own continueddevelopment, the study,contributes to broader conversations about how to build responsive, equitable, andeffective mental health support systems for state workers.