Abstract
Since their inception fifty years ago, employee assistance programs (EAPs) have undergone fundamental changes. EAPs have widened the scope and deepened the intensity of the services they offer to employees. Currently many EAPs provide a wider range of counseling. As the number of EAPs has grown, their organizational structure has become increasingly more complex. By reviewing major trends, reporting on EAPs in Fortune 500 firms in 1997, and discussing the implication of the most recent developments, this article sets the stage for considering the EAPs as we move into the twenty-first century.