Worth Reading – Corporate America spends billions on mental health services. 97% never use it.
This should be an obvious indicator that something is amiss with the standard EAP program.
The 97% of employees who never touch their mental health benefits aren’t apathetic. They’re rational. They evaluated what was being offered and opted out.
The author of the article is obviously trying to sell his program to replace the standard Employee Assistance Program, so forgive me for linking to a sales pitch, but the statistic being mentioned here is significant. These programs are not working, and hardly anyone bothers to use them.
I think there are some other factors at play. It’s not just the design of the program, though that’s often seriously lacking. This is especially true when the program offers six full sessions with a mental health professional over the course of a calendar year.
It’s also cultural. Does the workplace make it seem like using the program won’t cause the employee to be viewed as less worthy of promotion or opportunity? Will there be some stigma attached to even talking about having used the program? It’s difficult to feel confident plugging into a program that no one talks about at all. Those issues drive people away just as much as the program’s failure to meet the mental health needs of employees.
Of course, I also think it’s quite obvious that these programs fall short for the people who get past the stigma of calling by not providing timely, inexpensive mental health resources. The combination of the stigma of calling in the first place, along with a program that doesn’t meet the needs, means 97% of people won’t bother with it. We should be looking at alternatives, for sure.
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