The first employee assistance programme (EAP) aimed at small and medium-sized firms has been launched.
In news which might be of interest to business insurance customers, the Employee Advisory Resource, the body behind the scheme, claims that HR support is even more vital now because of the credit crunch.
Alan King, managing director of the firm, said: "Very often it's the case that SMEs do not have access to HR departments or resources and therefore they need to think creatively about how they can source and deliver this."
The new Enterprise EAP will give small firms the help they need to support staff for both professional and personal problems, he added.
Business insurance customers might be interested to know that the scheme is designed to protect them against the risk of litigation over work-related matters.
Recently, SME Web reported that a survey by Orange found that 83 per cent of small business owners think it is down to the government to tackle the economic downturn.
