It’s no wonder mental health support is such a popular employee benefit. Quality mental health support boosts productivity, reduces turnover by up to 60%, and provides a 5x return on your investment.
But with so many options out there, how can you tell if the mental health support you’re offering is up to the job? Or, if you’re still comparing benefits, how can you tell which is the right one for you?
Luckily, there’s a recognized, research-based list of criteria you can use to distinguish between different mental health benefits and make sure you’re offering quality mental health support to boost your team’s well-being. Let’s take a look at what you need…
1. Sessions with highly qualified psychologists
The best, most important feature of any mental health benefit is the chance to talk in real time with leading psychologists. Talk therapy offers every employee a chance to sort through professional and personal issues that might be holding them back.
Make sure your mental health support benefit offers:
- A rigorous vetting process: only psychologists with internationally recognized qualifications, experience, studies, and specializations
- At least 45 minute-long sessions to ensure your employees have the time they need to work on their well-being
- Optional: Additional sessions available for friends and family of employees, so they can bring mental health support into their home
2. Diverse therapy for diverse employees
Different people respond well to different types of therapy. Ensure your mental health benefit features:
- Psychologists with diverse options for ethnicity, LGBTQ+ sensitivity, and clinical focus
- Psychologists across every time zone, who are able to speak in a large range of languages to suit international teams
- A sophisticated algorithm and questionnaire pairing process, to make sure every employee gets the psychologist who will suit them best
3. Accessible care
One of the reasons mental health support is so attractive as a benefit is that, unlike many mental healthcare options, it’s super accessible. At the same time, it can be quite daunting to ask for help, so make sure that your benefit is as accessible as possible for your employees. It should have:
- Options in every team member’s native language, so they can express themselves with ease
- A desktop and mobile app for ease of access
- Online sessions with psychologists, leaders, roundtables, and more, so remote teams can enjoy the full benefits
- Complete confidentiality so your employees don’t have to feel self-conscious or exposed
- Regular onboarding and engagement techniques for new starters
4. A range of support options & formats
One-to-one sessions with psychologists is a crucial part of your mental health support benefit. But it is only one part. High quality mental health support shouldn’t stop there. Look for a benefit that also offers:
- Group sessions where your employees can discuss and workshop mental health topics with experts and their peers
- Self-guided content where your team can work on their own personal issues and concerns
5. Emergency care… and also long-term prevention
Mental health crises can arise very suddenly. But preventative care is also crucial for any company who wishes to build a sustainable future. That’s why your mental health benefit should take a well-rounded view of the future and offer:
- Emergency support for mental health crises
- Referrals to healthcare professionals when necessary
- Preventative strategies and support to help your employees boost their resilience, deal with stress and more — before it builds to a crisis
6. Metrics you can track
Quality mental health support makes an impact that you can measure! And it’s important for you to be able to check in on your team and see how they’re doing. That’s why you need to look for a benefit that provides:
- Measurable insights and data about how your team is doing, how much they’re engaging with the platform, and what they need
- A friendly and responsive customer service team able to help you roll the platform out, onboard new arrivals, keep your team engaged, and solve any problems or questions that arise along the way
7. Data protection and confidentiality
Needless to say, with a benefit that deals with such sensitive material, you and your team need to be completely confident about your privacy. Look for mental health support which offers:
- A strict data protection policy, compliant with GDPR regulations
- Complete confidentiality for all your employees who use the platform
Want to compare your mental health support benefit options, or see how your mental health support rates? Try our easy questionnaire!
And yes: nilo.health offers all of the above! For a personalized demo to see how nilo.health works for your company, click here.
