Telecommunications giant, Ericsson, will venture into a new era in employee support solutions on 1 December 2009.
Called Ask Eric, this unique programme is the first to integrate an employee wellness, work/life balance and administrative support programme in a holistic approach to human resource issues.

“This new thinking represents the future of employee assistance and can be outsourced in its entirety, taking a huge load of the shoulders of HR management,” says Audrey Makofane, OD  Manager for Ericsson. In addition, the solution offers the ability to track and quantify the ROI of the offering by measuring productivity as related to staff spending less work hours managing personal issues.

Ask Eric consists of a suite of services that take staff support beyond the traditional solutions of medical, legal and financial employee assistance. Its extensive work/life balance solutions, as well as medical and psychological support, are provided to the employee’s family members as well.

In addition, HR queries about employee benefits like medical aid and pension funds, administrative processes etc. are also dealt with, leaving the human resource department free to focus on more important issues.

All these services are conveniently available 24 hours a day through a single telephone number, supported by a website and email facilities.

Ask Eric was developed by staff acquisition and retention specialists, Private Label Promotion (PLP), who specialise in developing and managing such integrated programmes. The wellness element of Ask Eric programme is run by Kaelo, leading experts in corporate health and HIV/AIDS solutions.

 “We go as far as white labelling these services for our clients,” explains Petra Knezu, Marketing Manager for PLP. “All communication is branded in the company’s own identity and incorporates its philosophy and values.

“Employees basically perceive their employer as the delivery engine of these internal services. This contributes massively to increasing employer/employee trust and engagement levels.”

PLP provide employees with a virtual personal assistant to provide 24/7 practical support with household, medical and roadside emergencies; organising their holidays; providing them with legal, financial and tax advice; helping their children with homework; negotiating reduced bond rates for them and finding them discounts on purchases, as well as any information or assistance they may need.

With this inventive solution, Ericsson are once again proving themselves to be world-class innovators.