Are you on the hunt for the right Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for your organization? An effective EAP takes care of your most valuable asset — your employees — by providing them assistance during moments of personal strife related to mental health, substance abuse, family issues, and others. We’ve researched dozens of different EAP providers in order to guide your purchase decision, with a detailed rundown of our favorites, as well as common pitfalls, sample questions for demos and other great resources.
Between the rise of remote work, the continued COVID-19 pandemic, and our tumultuous political climate, it could be argued that EAPs have never been more vital. After all, it is a well-known fact that happy and healthy employees are more productive employees. And the cost of not providing this type of assistance can be enormous. According to the Center for Prevention and Health Services, workplaces lose $79 to $105 billion each year due to employee mental illness and substance abuse disorders. So let’s get started — dig into the below list of our top-rated vendors, along with our buying guide to streamline your decision-making process.
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We take our research seriously and want to make sure we are presenting our readers with the very best solutions in a given software category. Here's how we select vendors to be in our buyer guides:
Here's more detail if you want to read further on how we research vendors.
We track thousands of HRTech solutions, these are the best EAP companies per our research and expert council as of 2022
Why we love it
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Highly personalized, interactive, quick – this is what makes Modern Health great. All you have to do is answer a few questions, get a personalized plan, and connect with a provider.
Pro: Modern Health offers personalized treatment plans based on your specific mental health needs.
Pro: Modern Health's community sessions create a safe space where you can participate in discussions that matter to you, listen and learn from therapists and coaches, and pick up new skills.
Pro: Modern Health’s app interface is clean and user-friendly, setting the tone for the entire experience.
Con: Once you run out of sessions covered by your employer, paying out of pocket can get quite expensive.
Modern Health
Review:
Modern Health offers employees a personalized treatment plan based on their mental health needs and goals. This is usually a combination of self-help resources, behavioral coaching, group sessions, workshops, courses, and/or therapy.
As an employer, you are provided access to the Insight Hub - a portal that integrates with your existing HR information system and provides valuable information about your workforce. You can view key metrics on the overall well-being of your organization, identify at-risk populations, see how many employees are using the platform, and extend support when needed. You can also use the Engagement Resource Library to equip yourself with the resources you need to handle your workforce. However, all patient information is confidential so employees don’t have to worry about their employer gaining access to their medical files.
Modern Health
Customers:
Pixar, EA, Lyft
Modern Health
Stats:
Modern Health
Pricing:
Employers decide on a set number of sessions for employees per year. Additional sessions may cost extra if not covered by insurance.
Employers must contact Modern Health for detailed pricing.
Best For:
Any business looking to provide its employees with access to therapy, coaching, and mental health resources.
Worth Checking Out:
Why we love it
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Spring Health uses machine learning to match an employee with a personalized care plan. Care Navigators, utilization reports, and a myriad wellness programs – these are some reasons why leading employers trust Spring Health.
Pro: Spring Health uses data-driven insights and machine learning models to create a personalized mental healthcare plan for every individual
Pro: Spring Health provides every member with a Care Navigator who walks you through your healthcare plan, answers any questions, helps you schedule your therapy sessions, and acts as a guide in your mental wellness journey.
Con: You cannot access Spring Health’s services unless your employer has paid for it.
Con: Spring Health is only available in English
Spring Health
Review:
Spring Health’s EAP provides employees access to technology-driven mental healthcare, with solutions ranging from subclinical such as self-help resources and exercises to deeply clinical like coaching, therapy, and rehab. They also offer critical incident support, either virtually or on-site, whenever your team needs it.
Spring Health
Customers:
Spring Health
Stats:
Spring Health
Pricing:
For employees, the first 10 sessions every calendar year are free. After that, they are covered by insurance. For employer costs, contact Spring Health and talk to your benefits administrator.
Best For
Spring Health is great for any company looking to boost mental health efforts.
Worth Checking Out:
Why we love it
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Anthem's EAP offers quick and easy counseling services for employees and their family. Other than mental health services, employees can also seek counseling for adoption, pet care, legal consultations, among other things.
Pro: Anthem offers employees and their dependents free counseling sessions as a part of their EAP so they don’t have to use their benefits through their group health plan, in turn, saving costs.
Pro: When you compare Anthem's integrated EAP service versus an external EAP, members save up to $9 per month in behavioral health costs.
Con: Unlike a few other EAP providers, Anthem’s EAP service is not personalized. This means that they provide the same wellness solutions to everyone irrespective of where they are in their mental health journey.
Anthem
Review:
Anthem's EAP service addresses a range of issues, including work/life balance, mental and emotional well-being, child, elder, and pet care, critical incidents, legal concerns, and financial issues. They offer a rich library of self-help resources such as online webinars, podcasts, and articles addressing health, wellness, parenting, education, adoption, etc.
Employees can also reach out to licensed practitioners and behavioral health coaches through online or in-person sessions. They are trained to help you address substance abuse, grief, anxiety, depression, family and relationship troubles, stress management, and more.
Apart from this, Anthem's EAP provides elder and child care support by providing access to home health agencies, nursing programs, and other childcare resources. Employees can also seek legal and financial consultations with experts as part of their EAP program.
Anthem
Customers:
Anthem
Stats:
Anthem
Pricing:
EAP service from Anthem doesn't cost anything for employees. Employers pay extra as part of their insurance plan, determined by state and group size.
There are three models:
Best For
Anthem's EAP is most useful for national and enterprise employers who already use Anthem as their health insurance provider. However, lower pricing models make it affordable for businesses of all sizes.
Worth Checking Out:
Why we love it
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Cost-effective and quick, Ginger is a mobile app that lets your employees chat with behavioral health coaches within seconds at any time of the day. Employees can also schedule video therapy with licensed practitioners.
Ginger
Review:
Ginger helps employees deal with life's everyday stresses so they can live happier, more productive lives. Through their app, employees can chat with a trained behavioral health coach within seconds, or schedule a meeting with a licensed therapist or psychiatrist via video within days. All care is clinically supervised, and designed to meet employees where they are - many times outside of work hours and right on their phone.
Ginger
Customers:
Ginger
Stats:
Ginger
Pricing:
There are three subscription tiers for Ginger, starting at $149 and scaling up to $249 and $349 per month depending on how much access your company requires.
For employees and their dependents, it doesn't cost a thing. However, if an employee desires video therapy or psychiatry sessions, additional fees may incur depending on healthcare coverage.
Best For
Any sized company will find Ginger valuable for keeping employees happy and healthy.
Worth Checking Out:
Why we love it
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CoreHealth Global helps companies create wellness programs for their employees. By putting health assessments, biometric management, and self-help programs in one place, CoreHealth acts as an all-in-one platform for all your corporate wellness needs.
Pro: Corehealth serves as an all-in-one wellness platform, offering a range of physical, mental, and financial wellness solutions such as 1:1 coaching sessions, health surveys, learning programs, health risk assessments, and more.
Pro: Corehealth's wellness platform is used by over 90 countries and is available in many different languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese, and French.
Pro: Corehealth can be used as an out-of-the-box wellness solution that requires minimal effort to implement. This is great for companies that do not want to spend a lot of time or effort setting up an EAP.
Pro: Corehealth integrates with over 140+ third-party wellness vendors that offer ready-made wellness solutions that can be added to an organization's EAP.
Pro: Corehealth's flexible and configurable white-label solution provides wellness and service providers the framework to create their own wellness solutions.
Con: Priced at a minimum of $10,000, Corehealth's solution can be expensive for startups and small-sized companies.
Con: According to some of Corehealth's white-label solution users, implementing the framework and customizing the platform is a fairly complex process that requires considerable effort and technical skills.
Corehealth Global
Review:
Corehealth offers four different well-being solutions. Here's what they offer:
Corehealth Global
Customers:
Corehealth Global
Stats:
Corehealth Global
Pricing:
Corehealth Global revised their pricing catalogue in February 2020. They recommend contacting a customer relationship manager for details.
Best For
Corehealth Global is best for companies searching for a customizable EAP that fits to specific needs.
Worth Checking Out:
Why we love it
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Designed to resolve personal concerns, workplace conflicts, and life challenges, Ulliance's EAP is cost effective, personalized, and has a high level of participation.
Pro: Ulliance offers a comprehensive EAP program that provides employees access to sessions with licensed counselors, behavioral coaching, and self-help resources such as podcasts, videos, tips on mental health management, activities, challenges, and more. Having such a massive library of resources is a great advantage.
Pro: Unlike some other EAPs that cannot be used in the case of emergency situations, Ulliance offers 24/7 critical incident care so employees can use their services whenever they need them the most.
Pro: Apart from offering services for employees, Ulliance also offers training, workshops, and consultation services for HR professionals and management so they can manage and grow their organization in a more efficient manner.
Con: Unlike some other EAPs, Ulliance’s well-being platform is not personalized based on an employee’s mental needs and treatment plan.
Con: Ulliance can get expensive if you’re looking at a short-term solution. For your investment in the tool to become ROI positive, you will have to use it for a longer period of time.
Ulliance
Review:
Ulliance's Life Advisor Resolution EAP Model® is one of the most robust EAPs available today. All employees will have unlimited access to a Resource Center portal with thousands of self-care resources, balanced living workshops, videos, and tips on improving mental health. They also get a flexible number of telephonic, face-to-face, or video counseling and behavioral coaching sessions with expert mental healthcare providers.
Apart from this, employees are eligible for discounted financial and legal consultations with experts, free HR & management consultations, and up to 60% off on hotels, concerts, movie tickets, travel, and theme park tickets. Ulliance's EAP also offers unlimited critical incident support in the case of employee death, accidents, robbery, or any traumatic events.
As an employer, you get assigned a dedicated Account Manager to help promote the utilization of your EAP. You also get comprehensive reports with data and insights on EAP usage and trends within your organization.
However, bear in mind that Ulliance's EAP is designed to be ROI-positive only in the long term. If you're looking for an affordable solution for the short term, then this may not be the one for you.
Ulliance
Customers:
Ulliance
Stats:
Best For
Any company looking for a comprehensive employee assistance and wellness platform.
Worth Checking Out:
Why we love it
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Talkspace offers an immediate, responsive, and a result-oriented care. Their network of providers is managed continuously and they have efficacy studies published in peer-review journals.
Pro: The platform provides access to licensed therapists and psychiatrists with years of experience across a range of specialties.
Pro: Talkspace allows you to share your thoughts and feelings with your therapist 24 hours a day, irrespective of where you’re located. Your therapist will then respond to your messages at their earliest convenience.
Pro: Talkspace offers different subscription options based on your budget and needs, so you’re bound to find something that works for you.
Pro: Talkspace’s results have been validated by research partners like NYU and Columbia University. Out of a study of 10,000 participants, 50% fully recovered from their anxiety and depression symptoms after 12 weeks, while 70% saw significant improvement.
Con: Because live sessions are only 30 minutes long, addressing and working through complex issues through these sessions alone is tough.
Con: Text-based therapy may not necessarily work for everyone. While some believe that it helps them be more vulnerable, others prefer live sessions as it helps them connect better with their therapist.
Talkspace
Review:
Talkspace offers comprehensive mental healthcare services, ranging from messaging therapy to live sessions, psychiatry consultations, medicine management, teen counselling, and couples therapy. While their services are convenient and accessible, they cannot be used as a substitute for emergent care. Further, if you’re dealing with more complex mental health issues like PTSD or chronic depression, text-based therapy or infrequent live sessions will not give you the results you desire.
Talkspace
Customers:
Talkspace
Stats:
Talkspace
Pricing:
Talkspace partners with health plans to provide online therapy to employees. Contact your benefits administrator for more details on the EAP.
If an employee is interested in Talkspace independently of their employer, plans start at $260 per month up to $396 per month.
Best For
Any company looking for a mental health platform that delivers clinically-proven results.
Worth Checking Out:
Why we love it
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Lifeworks aims to counter turnover, absenteeism, and productivity problems. Its modern EAP is proactive, interactive, mobile-first, and personalized.
Pro: Lifeworks’employee wellness platform is a one-stop solution for all employee well-being needs. From mental to emotional, physical, and financial, this platform has something for everyone.
Pro: Lifeworks’ EAP offers employees 24/7 access to therapists and coaches who are experienced in treating various mental health disorders using techniques like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Users also get access to a plethora of self-help resources, activities, tips on mental health management, workshops, and more.
Pro: Lifeworks’ AbilitiAbsence makes absence reporting a breeze. Stakeholders and employers can get real-time information on who’s out of the office and why, identify trends, and build strategies to reduce absenteeism.
Con: Lifeworks takes up to 5 business days to match you with a provider. In urgent cases, it takes a minimum of 24 hours. So if you’re looking for a platform that instantly connects you with a mental health practitioner in a matter of a few hours, then Lifeworks isn’t the best option.
Con: Some users say that Lifeworks’ pricing is more than a traditional EAP. However, bear in mind that Lifeworks is more than an EAP platform as it combines employee well-being services, rewards, absence management, and employee engagement.
LifeWorks
Review:
Lifework's EAP includes a well-being platform that offers 24/7 counseling sessions and self-help wellness resources for employees and their families. You can interact with licensed mental health professionals via video, chat, telephone, face-to-face, or group sessions, depending on whatever you're most comfortable with. They are equipped to help you navigate work-related problems, burnout, relationship issues, anxiety, depression, and other mental disorders. They also provide onsite critical incident support in the case of trauma or crisis. However, unlike some other EAPs that match you with a provider in a couple of hours, Lifeworks can take up to 5 business days and up to 24 hours in urgent cases.
Employees can also access specialists in financial and legal care to help with budgeting, debt, and legal proceedings, child care, elder care, and more.
LifeWorks
Customers:
LifeWorks
Stats:
LifeWorks
Pricing:
While Lifeworks doesn't offer specific numbers, their service is offered on a subscription basis.
Best For
Lifeworks is best for companies looking for detailed wellness analytics along with their EAP.
Worth Checking Out:
Why we love it
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Lyra Health focuses on connecting employees with top-tier mental health providers within a day. With its platform, employees can receive personalized care, develop new skills, and measure their progress.
Pro: Lyra Health only works with providers who use evidence-based treatments and clinically-validated assessments to measure mental health improvement.
Pro: Lyra Health takes a personalized approach to mental healthcare, ensuring that every member has access to self-help resources, coaches, and therapists, whenever they need them.
Pro: Lyra Health offers a range of treatment options grounded in science, based on your needs — whether that’s preventative care, dealing with day-to-day stressors, or dealing with something much more serious like suicidal tendencies.
Con: You cannot access Lyra Health unless your employer has paid for it.
Con: Once you’ve used up your allotted number of sessions, you will have to either pay out of pocket, which can get expensive, or use your insurance to pay for it.
Lyra Health
Review:
Lyra Health's EAP provides employees with mental healthcare services such as behavioral coaching, therapy sessions, medicine management, self-help resources, financial assistance, legal consultations, critical incident support, ID theft services, and child, elder, and pet care.
With a mission statement of only providing proven treatments, this EAP takes a quality-focused approach through evidence-based techniques to deliver care to your employees. Members can find the right personalized care, match with the right provider for their needs, and feel motivated and supported throughout the entire treatment journey.
Lyra Health
Customers:
Lyra Health
Stats:
Lyra Health
Pricing:
Lyra Health is free for employees and their dependents. However, you must get in contact with the sales team to find out pricing for your company.
Best For
Lyra Health can benefit any company who uses it, as its reliable clinical improvements are proven by science to improve employee mental health.
Worth Checking Out:
The workplace has changed dramatically in recent years, and even more so with the advent of the covid pandemic. But at the end of the day, your people remain the most essential ingredient for continued success as a company. Prioritizing employee health in times of crisis, beyond the umbrella of general health plans or wellness programs, has been proven to foster employee loyalty and boost job performance.
An intelligently structured, comprehensive, and well-implemented EAP can have a huge positive impact on your organization’s morale, productivity and your bottom line. But before we leave you to your decision-making process, we offer a word of caution: what you pay for is what you get. Many EAPs have been advertised with a cost as low as $1 per employee, but don’t count on these providers to give the necessary support your employees are looking for. Instead, please take a look at our vetted list of providers above, and ask for a demo today.
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