BACKGROUND OF EMPLOYEE WELLNESS PROGRAMMES   The Free State Department of Education (FSDE) has identified the requirement to provide a wellness programme for its employees. As South Africans we have undergone significant changes in our society and even today have unique challenges to deal with. This complex background is exacerbated by organizational challenges such as the natural move towards performance management within the Department of Education that will also have an impact on employees as there will be an increasing number of employees requiring counselling and support for Stress related issues. Over and above this, employees unfortunately experience emotional, financial, substance abuse, family and other psycho-social problems that impact on their performance in the workplace on a daily basis. The Employee Wellness is a strategic approach, short-term and workplace based programme aimed at improving the quality of life of employees and their families by providing a supportive system that alleviate the impact of everyday work and personal challenges. The Employee Wellness Programme recognises that short-term personal and psychological related problems may adversely affect an employee’s well-being and ability to function on the job.  Involvement in the programme will not jeopardise an employee’s job security, compensation, promotional opportunities and/ reputation.   Employee Wellness provides programmes and interventions aimed at promoting and maintaining a well balanced lifestyle for the employees of Free State Department of Education. The Wellness Programme will create a healthy Department of Education which will improve the productivity and the effectiveness of our department.  With the creation and empowerment of the Employee Wellness Sub Directorate, the Free State Department of Education has demonstrated its commitment to address the various psychosocial and health needs of the employees.    VISION   To improve the quality of life of all employees of FSDOE by providing quality and lifelong wellness programmes.    MISSION   To operate an efficient and effective Employee Wellness programme that works towards the holistic development of all employees of FSDOE in a professional and confidential manner.   AIM   Explicit aim of the Employee Wellness programme is to improve the quality of life of all employees by providing support and assistance to alleviate the impact of everyday work, personal and family challenges.This will improve effectiveness of our department.    PURPOSE:  1   To provide confidential assistance to employees of FSDOE  2   To enhance productivity of employees  3   To enhance social functioning and quality of life of employees  4   To render professional assistance on the following:      - Family related challenges      - Psychosocial challenges      - Work-related challenges             The FSDE has contracted The Careways Service Provider to implement some of the functions of Employee Wellness The Website offering includes the following: Health information, for example Work–life information, advice and tips Information on medical conditions, mental and alternative health, and psychosocial issues Articles to help you live with a condition such as HIV and Aids Information to locate health professionals in a specific area The Healthwise® Knowledgebase* Magazine-type articles to promote health and well-being. Financial information, for example Advice on debt management Articles to help you save and invest Interactive tools, for example Health status calculators Management tools, such as for smoking cessation and stress management Current awareness tools Notice of national health events An opinion poll SA health news A monthly newsletter Online access Online access to the Careways care centre as well as expert advice (privacy and confidentiality is assured at all times) Online requests for counselling or consultation *    The Healthwise® Knowlegdebase is an accredited online resource for helping people make decisions about their health and health care. Within the course of every illness or health problem, people are called upon to make decisions. Little decisions about whether to call a doctor and what self-care is best, and big decisions about medication, tests, and surgeries. Each decision impacts health care quality and cost. Both doctors and consumers trust the Prescription-Strength InformationTM content in the Healthwise Knowledgebase to improve health care decisions. Every Healthwise topic is based on the most reliable, most up-to-date medical research. With this user-friendly Web site Careways provides employees with the means to help themselves, their colleagues and family members. Making use of the content is not restricted to users with direct access to the Web as articles in the Web’s database can be e-mailed to other staff members or printed and distributed to staff. The articles may be re-printed in your company’s employee newsletters if copyright is acknowledged. The site can also be accessed from home (or elsewhere) by the employee and his or her family members. The advantages for the Free State Department of Education include the following: It provides proactive information to the user. The delivery of your EAP/EWP programme is broadened to include all employees Fear of victimisation or stigmatisation can be alleviated by making use of the relative anonymity of the online service Wellness information, developed specifically for the South African situation, is always available, 24 hours a day