TELUS Health highlights why EAPs work best when they're connected to benefits rather than separated
As Canada continues to face one of the worst mental health crises on record, employers are being urged to take a more hands-on approach - by investing more in their EAP services.
When it comes to the mental health benefits that are working, TELUS Health’s Paula Allen sees strong results from employee assistance programs (EAPs) but only when they are well-integrated with other mental health resources.
“We measure people's level of productivity when they come in, and then we measure it at the end of counselling, and we find a recovery that averages… six to seven weeks a year in productivity recovery,” Allen, global leader and vice-president of research and insights at TELUS Health, said.
Additionally, Allen underscored EAPs are the best entry point for mental health support and return on investment (ROI) but only if employers actively work to drive awareness and utilization. However, many employees still don’t know what their EAP includes or how to use it effectively.
“It is the most logical front door, but people don't necessarily see it that way,” she said, highlighting while 1 in 3 employees understand how EAPs function, another third misunderstand them because of “egregious assumptions” like out-of-pocket expenses before being reimbursed or they’re only for employees in a crisis.
Allen explained EAPs are proven to boost productivity, with research showing that employees regain an average of six to seven weeks of productive time per year after counselling. However, the most effective approach goes beyond short-term support as it requires a holistic system that addresses both primary and secondary issues, like mental distress linked to physical health problems.
She added mental health benefits work best when they are connected, rather than fragmented. Rather than separating EAPs from long-term therapy covered by benefits, employers should integrate the two, allowing employees to continue with the same counsellor if they need extended care.
To increase engagement, Allen advised employers to start optimizing what they have already available before building on top and to take a marketing-style approach by repeating messages multiple times and ensuring communications are clear, relevant, and easy to access.
“If you talk about your programs once every one or two years, it's not going to sink in,” she said, adding employers need to move beyond just listing available programs to taking a system-wide approach, said Allen.
“It should be around what systems are the most effective and what systems are the least effective,” she added.
Allen emphasized an effective mental health strategy must address all levels of need, from early prevention to crisis intervention, while noting that mental health is closely linked to physical health. If an employer focuses only on providing isolated benefits, rather than integrating them into a broader workplace culture and support system, the impact will be limited, said Allen.
While any organization can do “a lot of great things in terms of the benefits that they provide,” if their managers have behaviours that are completely opposite to what supports a mentally healthy workplace where they can't step in to support an issue with an employee, “you have a culture that is distressing and you're not going to have good outcomes,” asserted Allen.
If the goal is immediate ROI, Allen noted the focus should be on employees in the highest distress or those on or at risk of disability leave. These interventions can provide measurable cost savings by helping employees return to work faster. But for long-term ROI, the real priority should be preventing distress in the first place.
“Research is pretty clear that if you want a totality of ROI, the best thing that you can do as an organization is to keep people who are not in distress from getting into distress,” said Allen.
“It might take a little bit longer to see that result, it might be a little bit more difficult to measure… but that's actually the bigger ROI, not only in terms of preventing costs, but also promoting optimum productivity,” she added.
Employers who want to keep their workforce mentally healthy must focus on communication and workplace culture.
“Services that are seen on the more well-being and preventative side, they live or die based on how well they're communicated,” Allen said, emphasizing all too often, she sees companies simply listing benefits instead of promoting them in a way that resonates with employees. The key is to personalize outreach by making mental health resources feel relevant and accessible.
Allen underscored certain workplaces can be more stressful than others. In this case, employers “need to up their support,” she said, pointing to TELUS Health’s Mental Health Index, which identified five key management traits that differentiate high-performing, mentally healthy teams from others.
“The five traits were managers who were team-oriented, inclusive, empathetic but they were also more decisive. They also had a sense of purpose and exuded that,” she said.
Allen noted these traits not only contribute to mental well-being but also drive higher engagement and discretionary effort from employees.
“Continuum of care, defragmentation for the user experience and strong and ongoing communication and investment in your leadership. If you do that, there’s no way you won’t see benefit,” said Allen.
