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Helping employees engage with their behavioral health benefits may help make a difference in addressing the mental health crisis.
There is currently a mental health crisis in the U.S., according to 90% of Americans surveyed, and that crisis is spilling into the workplace.1 A 2024 survey found that:2
- 7 in 10 employees said their mental health has stayed the same or worsened in the past year
- 61% reported feeling down, depressed or hopeless
- 8 in 10 said they have recently struggled with nervousness, anxiousness and stress
Struggling with mental health can lead to decreased productivity and motivation at work.3
To break down the impact on employers even further, approximately 12B working days are lost annually due to common mental health issues, costing the global economy $1T each year.4
These staggering statistics are the reason many employers are looking to expand their behavioral health offerings. In fact, 77% of employers said they plan to offer mental health support to their employees.5
Even if employers offer behavioral health benefits, some employees may not utilize them. That’s why it’s important for employers to build awareness and seek solutions to keep employees engaged with their benefits.
Engaging employees in their behavioral health
Identifying opportunities to better engage employees
A lack of awareness and understanding often prevents employees from getting the most out of what’s available to them. In fact, more than half of Americans surveyed said they don’t fully understand what their current health plan offers.6
Examples of what some employees may say include:
“I don’t know where to start, so it’s easier to ignore my mental health.”
“I don’t know exactly what I’m feeling, so I’ll wait until I have symptoms and then I’ll react.”
“My experience often feels disconnected — in person, on the phone, online and within apps.”
Employers can play a crucial role in helping drive awareness and education around the health benefits they offer, as well as encouraging and empowering their employees to leverage what’s available to them.
In fact, two-thirds of employees surveyed said they want their employer to provide better and more consistent benefit education throughout the year.7 This is especially important in the mental health space.
Additionally, 1 in 4 Americans surveyed reported needing mental health care or medication but not receiving it.1 Although cost is one of the most cited reasons why people forgo care or medication, stigma and access are other common explanations.1
Understanding that mental health can be a sensitive topic for employers to address with employees, UnitedHealthcare has made a concerted effort to help engage and guide members to care through targeted communications, campaigns and initiatives — collaborating with employers, brokers and consultants to tackle the challenges that matter most to their unique group populations.
UnitedHealthcare worked with employers on 3 recent campaigns designed to drive greater awareness and understanding of the various behavioral health solutions available to employees.
Targeted communications to help families address youth mental health concerns
Roughly 1 in 5 U.S. youth ages 6 to 17 experience a mental health disorder each year, yet only about 20% of those receive care from a provider.7
Recognizing that it can be difficult for parents to focus at work if they have a child at home who is struggling, one employer engaged UnitedHealthcare to address this gap within their workforce.
Together with support from UnitedHealthcare, a custom mental health home mailer was created — with messaging relevant for employees who are parents of children with mental health concerns — to help raise awareness of youth mental health issues and drive better utilization of mental health benefits.
This also included providing tools — built to help remove the stigma of mental health and encourage parents to have compassionate, open conversations with their children — such as conversation starters, a QR code with online resources and tear-off cards for easy access to the employee assistance program (EAP).
The results
- 28% increase in claims for anxiety
- 25% increase in monthly behavioral health claims for members ages 5 to 17
- 24% increase in claims for depression
- 10% increase in ADHD/autism claims
An interactive way to engage employees and members
A manufacturer tapped UnitedHealthcare to help reduce the mental health stigma within its workforce and increase awareness of its core mental health benefit offerings.
In response, a “Trivia Time” campaign was launched for Mental Health Awareness Month. Here’s how it worked: Employees answered 6 questions aimed at testing their knowledge on mental health while learning about the mental health support available to them and their dependents through their benefits. After that, employees could enter a drawing for their choice of an Amazon.com Gift Card or an Apple Watch®.
The results
- 15% of employees who received the mailer scanned the QR code to reach the trivia website
- 42% email open rate across 2 email pushes
- 1K employees reached with each communication
Reaching members where they are
Struggling to get its employees to engage with their EAP — even after increasing the number of counseling visits covered by the EAP — an employer turned to UnitedHealthcare for guidance.
Realizing that many employees were unaware of the program or how to access it when in need, UnitedHealthcare collaborated with this employer to send employees and their families a mailer featuring an informational tear-off card. This card could be detached and inserted into employees’ wallets for easier access. They also hung posters with the tear-off cards in heavily trafficked work locations.
The results
- 32K members reached
- 48% increase in EAP counseling cases
- 72% increase in EAP interactions
Maintaining engagement through guided digital experiences
In order for a campaign to be successful, it must be paired with a simple, easy-to-navigate experience.
In order to reach Millennials and younger generations who make up the majority of the U.S. workforce, using digital platforms like social media, email or apps will become increasingly important. Plus, beyond a single campaign or communication, they want to feel supported and guided through each step of their care journey.
That’s why UnitedHealthcare continues to make significant enhancements to its digital behavioral health care experience. The goal is to route members to a guided, interactive and personalized experience — with recommendations for certain resources, tools or programs based on their unique needs — when they click a link within an email or scan a QR code.
For instance, while “psychiatrist” may be a top search term, a member may not need that level of care. In fact, it is estimated that approximately 50% of members seeking mental health support could be good candidates for virtual behavioral coaching as an alternative to therapy.8 Ensuring members are navigated to the most appropriate care may help lower costs for them and their employer.
Working with employers, brokers and consultants to better understand each population’s unique behavioral health needs and challenges has enabled UnitedHealthcare to reach the right members at the right time with personalized care recommendations. That matters — because it’s helping employees take better care of their and their families’ overall health and well-being so that they can bring their best selves to work.
