National Taiwan University of Science and Technology Implementation Plan for Employee Assistance Program

1. Basis:

1. The “Employee Assistance Program for Executive Yuan Agencies and Local Government Agencies and Schools,” approved by the Executive Yuan in Letter No. Yuan-Shou-Ren-Zong-1020029524 dated April 2, 2013.
2. The Implementation Plan for Employee Assistance Program of the Ministry of Education and Its Affiliated Agencies/Institutions and Schools.
3. Needs assessment and feedback regarding the Employee Assistance Program of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (hereinafter “Taiwan Tech”).

2. Objectives:

1. To assist employees in resolving problems that may affect their work, enabling them to perform their duties in a state of physical and mental well-being, enhancing morale, and increasing the quality of service they provide.
2. To provide diverse forms of assistance, establish a supportive and caring work environment, foster an organizational culture characterized by positive interactions, and enhance organizational competitiveness.

3. Service Recipients: Taiwan Tech faculty and staff and temporary full-time assistants funded under project budgets.
4. Responsible Units: The Personnel Office shall serve as the principal responsible unit, with relevant Taiwan Tech units providing assistance.
5. Scope of Services:

1. Individual Level:

(1) Work-related services: Services to assist with workplace adaptation, adjustments to organizational changes, work–life balance, career and retirement planning, job experience, and transition to a different occupational track or area of specialization.

(2) Regular services:

1. Legal consultation: Consultation services regarding legal problems arising in the course of official duties, traffic accidents, debts, inheritance, marriage, disputes involving the purchase or sale of real estate or automobiles/motorcycles, and contracts for the purchase or lease of housing.
2. Financial consultation: Consultation services concerning investment, financial planning, taxes, tax-saving strategies, and insurance planning.
3. Art, cultural, and recreational activities: Services for disseminating event-related information, information on sports exchanges and competitions, and information on benchmarking activities.

 (3) Health-related services:

1. Mental health services: Services providing assistance with stress management, interpersonal relationships, emotional management, communication between spouses or between parents and children, workplace interpersonal communication, and coping with major crises at different stages of life.
2. Medical and health-care services: Services involving various medical and health-care measures and information on medical and health-care resources available through nongovernmental organizations.

(4) Other assistance: Taiwan Tech may plan and provide other diversified services as appropriate.

2. Organizational and Management Level: Group consultation or counseling services and training may be provided to units or supervisors with common needs related to increasing morale, strengthening team effectiveness, and enhancing competitiveness.

(1) Organizational services: Services involving organizational change management, management of major stressful events, and performance improvement.

(2) Management services: Services providing assistance with leadership and management, crisis management, team building, and referrals.

6. Implementation Methods:

1. Work-Related Services:

(1) Participation and suggestion mechanisms: Implement participation and suggestion mechanisms; organize orientation and training for new employees, consensus-building camps for supervisors, forums for administrative staff, and benchmarking activities and suggestion boxes for all employees; encourage employees to participate in management and decision-making and to provide suggestions that contribute to organizational development.

(2) Thematic lectures: Organize lectures and courses on workplace adaptation, adjustments to organizational changes, work–life balance, and career and retirement planning.

(3) Career development services: Plan and organize lectures and workshops to enhance professional competencies, including computer skills, official document writing, service excellence, workplace ethics, and management of work-related stress and emotions.

2. Gender-Friendly Workplace Environment:

(1) Establish a Gender Equity Education Committee to coordinate relevant resources across Taiwan Tech units and formulate a gender equity education implementation plan. This plan will promote gender equity education and establish a safe and gender-equitable campus environment and support mechanisms to provide faculty and staff with a gender-equitable workplace.

(2) To encourage postpartum faculty and staff to breastfeed, and in accordance with the spirit of the Gender Employment Equality Act, a breastfeeding room has been established on the first floor of the gymnasium adjacent to the Health Center. This room provides a warm, bright, and safe environment for employees to breastfeed their infants.

(3)  Implement the recommendations set forth in the “Gender Equality Policy Guidelines.”

3. Support for Faculty and Staff with Disabilities:

(1) Taiwan Tech shall provide accessible facilities, including entrance and exit ramps, elevators, accessible restrooms, accessible parking spaces, and covered walkways, and shall enhance work environments and equipment to create a disability-friendly workplace.

(2) Taiwan Tech shall review work assignments and job design and shall plan and adjust positions as appropriate for people with disabilities, fulfilling its responsibility to provide necessary guidance and support.

(3) Taiwan Tech shall provide care and assistance to help people with disabilities adapt to the workplace, mitigate anxiety, overcome barriers to work, and improve work performance.

4. Diverse Mental Health Services:

(1) Social resources: Information shall be provided on counseling services that employees may independently access by telephone, in person, or online, including services provided by organizations such as the Teacher Chang Foundation, the Taipei Lifeline Association, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center.

(2) Contracted psychological counseling institutions, including online psychological counseling: Employees shall make appointments independently. Taiwan Tech has entered into agreements with the Hsin-Tien Psychological Counseling Clinic (Community Counseling Center of National Taiwan Normal University) to provide each Taiwan Tech employee with six free individual counseling sessions and three free family counseling sessions per year.

(3) Online mental health screening: Provide links to the “Brief Symptom Rating Scale” and “Stress Index Scale” of the Health Promotion Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and encourage employees to complete online assessments to become aware of their physical and mental conditions and access relevant support resources.

(4) Plan and organize lectures and workshops on mental health, interpersonal relationships, stress management, communication skills, gender-related problems, parenting education, and emotional management.

(5) Promote information on psychological counseling services available through nearby community mental health centers.

(6) Establish relevant consultation, medical and psychological counseling, and social welfare resources for cases involving workplace bullying, sexual harassment, and related incidents.

5. Medical and Health-Care Services:

(1) Diverse medical consultation services: Engage attending physicians from local hospitals or physicians in private practice to serve concurrently as university physicians. Service hours shall be scheduled from Monday through Friday to provide faculty and staff with on-campus outpatient medical consultation services.

(2) Self-health management activities: Provide employees with free access to health screening equipment and promote activities related to healthy weight management, campus walking, diet and exercise management, and tobacco hazard prevention.

(3) Organize annual health and first-aid activities, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation and foreign-body airway obstruction emergency response drills, and periodically invite experts and scholars to deliver lectures on medical care, health, and wellness.

(4) Health examination subsidies for faculty and staff: Full-time faculty and staff aged 40 years or older who hold positions on Taiwan Tech’s staff shall be eligible for a health examination subsidy of NT$4,500 once every 2 years. Funding for such subsidies shall be budgeted annually.

6. Legal Consultation Services:

(1) Social resources: Taiwan Tech shall provide information on legal consultation services that employees may independently schedule by telephone or online, including those offered by the Legal Aid Foundation, as well as district office mediation committees and bar associations in Taipei City and New Taipei City.

(2) On-campus consultation: Employees may independently schedule appointments for consultation regarding legal and banking matters with legal counsels appointed by Taiwan Tech.

(3) Legal assistance for litigation arising from official duties: When employees become involved in litigation as a result of performing their duties in accordance with the law, necessary legal assistance shall be provided pursuant to the regulations governing legal assistance for civil servants or faculty involved in litigation arising from official duties.

7. Financial Consultation Services:

(1) Plan and organize thematic lectures on investment, financial planning, insurance planning, tax-saving strategies, and related topics.

(2) Periodically invite tax professionals to provide employees with tax consultation services and information on tax laws.

8. Other Services:

(1) Employee benchmarking and interuniversity exchange activities focused on school affairs: National Taiwan University, National Taiwan Normal University, and Taiwan Tech have established a three-university alliance. The three universities promote a platform for exchanges focused on school affairs to facilitate greater resource sharing.

(2) Services for major life events: Provide employees with information regarding their eligibility to apply for living allowances in connection with weddings, funerals, and other major life events. Taiwan Tech shall organize annual Chinese New Year gatherings, birthday celebrations, and sports activities such as anniversary celebrations and sports days to foster organizational cohesion, strengthen employees’ ability and willingness to collaborate, and enhance work motivation and enjoyment.

(3) Promotion of employee clubs: To promote employees’ physical and mental well-being, Taiwan Tech provides clubs for activities such as badminton, table tennis, aerobics, and yoga, enabling employees to socialize, relax, and improve their well-being outside working hours.

(4) Stress-relief facilities: Taiwan Tech provides facilities such as recreation rooms and aerobics studios for employees to use outside working hours to relieve work-related and life-related stress.

(5) Dedicated Employee Assistance Program email address and hotline: Taiwan Tech maintains a dedicated Employee Assistance Program email address (person@mail.ntust.edu.tw) and hotline at (02) 2735-2887. Designated Personnel Office staff responsible for the Employee Assistance Program shall manage and respond to inquiries. All communications shall remain confidential to protect employees’ rights and interests.

7. Promotion and Outreach Activities:

To help employees recognize their needs and access appropriate consultation, counseling, guidance, and related resources at any time and from any location, the Employee Assistance Program shall be promoted through the following diversified channels:

1. The Taiwan Tech Employee Assistance Program and related services shall be introduced to newly hired employees during onboarding.

2. The Employee Assistance Program shall be promoted during employee forums, education and training sessions, and other activities to enhance employees’ understanding of this Program’s core concepts and functions and increase their willingness to use its services.

3. Email: Short articles on employee care, stories of personal growth, practical insights for daily life, health information, and introductions to new books shall be collected for publication in the Taiwan Tech Personnel Office Newsletter. This newsletter shall be distributed to employees monthly by email and posted on the Taiwan Tech website for convenient download and use.

4. Dedicated Employee Assistance Program webpage: Employees may visit the “Employee Assistance Program” section of the Taiwan Tech Personnel Office website to obtain the latest information on relevant activities.

5. Produce and distribute posters and promotional materials: The materials produced shall focus on available services, consultation and counseling channels, and contact phone numbers to facilitate employees’ access to and use of these resources.

8. Periodic Review:

At the end of each year, Taiwan Tech shall conduct an employee survey through an “Employee Assistance Program Satisfaction Questionnaire” to assess employees’ opinions on and levels of satisfaction with services. The survey results shall serve as a basis for organizational improvement and development.

9. Ethical Responsibilities:

In providing services under this plan for implementing the Employee Assistance Program, the following ethical standards and confidentiality obligations shall be complied with, and employees shall be clearly informed of them in advance to protect their rights and interests.

1. The establishment and implementation of all service procedures under the Employee Assistance Program shall ensure that employees’ employment, promotion, performance evaluations, and related rights and interests are not adversely affected because they are referred for consultation, counseling, medical care, or assistance with other personal matters.
2. All records generated under the Employee Assistance Program and all personal information of employees seeking assistance shall be kept confidential and retained in accordance with applicable laws and professional ethical standards. Such information shall not be disclosed to any unit or individual except through due legal process or with the written authorization and consent of the individuals concerned.

10. Funding Source: Expenses required to implement this plan for the implementation of the Employee Assistance Program shall be covered by relevant appropriations in Taiwan Tech’s annual budget.
11. Personnel who strongly promote and help implement this plan for the implementation of the Employee Assistance Program may be granted appropriate rewards, and such awards may be considered in their year-end performance evaluations.
12. This plan for the implementation of the Employee Assistance Program shall take effect upon the approval of the Taiwan Tech President. The same procedure shall apply to any amendments thereto.