Even as benefits teams try to expand the pool of therapists and counselors available to their employees to reduce wait times, most employees do not have a mental health condition severe enough for a diagnosis – they are what therapists would call sub-clinical and a group that Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, calls "languishing." Wellbeing efforts need to "meet them where they are," and make them feel supported. Only when employees thrive can organizations realize significant gains in productivity and motivation.

How does an organization bridge this gap and help employees with subclinical symptoms? One way is to add a digital companion to your Employee Assistance Program (EAP), one that employees can access anytime, anonymously, to identify ways to help themselves. There has been a flurry of digital health and mental health solutions, and in particular, an interest in AI-driven digital mental health apps. Companies are seeking unique benefits offerings that appeal to talent who can be challenging to attract during The Great Resignation.

Here are five questions to ask to break through the app clutter and find something that will really help employees, regardless of location.

1. Is there independent, real-world evidence this solution helps improve employee wellbeing?

All vendors will quote data, most of which will be generic data about any wellbeing app. Some will provide research data from clinical trials conducted by universities, which is ideal. Ask these vendors if they can show evidence that their solution effectively helps manage stress, increase resilience, and reduce depression or anxiety scores for employees like yours. The best employee benefits solutions come with independently verified, real-world evidence and vendors should be able to provide multiple case studies that outline customer success.

2. Does this solution go beyond "one size fits all" mindfulness & wellness apps? Will it configure itself to the issues my employees are dealing with and provide real-time support?

Mindfulness or yoga apps won't be able to help languishing employees – they are struggling, and need to be able to vent about their struggles. Digital apps that provide real-time support, and make employees feel heard, validated and helped, even when they are up at 4 a.m., provide just the sort of support they need. It sounds like a tall order, but AI-based digital companions today use a combination of supportive listening and cognitive behavioral therapy techniques to achieve this, with up to 90% of employees feeling helped after their first session.

3. Will this solution integrate with all of the other resources we offer, including EAP, and redirect people to the appropriate level of support? Will I be able to see a shift in their utilization?

One of the worst things that can happen to your employee wellbeing program is that you have too many resources and employees don't know what applies to them. EAP services are underutilized even during a behavioral health crisis, like that caused by the pandemic. Your EAP's digital companion should also be the front door to all of the mental health resources you offer, bringing them all together in one location. It should be able to assess the needs of your employees and, in real-time, guide them to the right resources, whether it be self-care, behavioral health or crisis support.

4. Will my employees trust this service and open up to it? How will I activate/engage employees throughout the year?

Oracle and Workplace Intelligence conducted a study of more than 12,000 employees, managers, and leaders, and found that people prefer AI digital companions over people to help with increased workplace stress, anxiety and burnout. As long as the AI companion is anonymous, people feel less judged and safer opening up to a bot about their issues. The effect can be as cathartic as opening up to a person and especially useful when blended with access to different levels of human support, from EAP to coaching and therapy. In fact, good AI digital companions should be able to engage 50% of your employees, about 10 times that of EAP engagement. Good providers will have playbooks to help you run campaigns that engage remote employees with mental health support throughout the year.

5. How will I know if it is working for my employees?

For far too long, employers have launched new mental health benefits and then relied on utilization data to understand whether they are working. When wellbeing initiatives, like yoga or meditation classes, took place in the workplace, you could look at employees and sense whether something was well received. This is no longer the case. Thankfully, with digital AI companions, you should have access to population-level insights across both time and organizational cohorts without compromising the anonymity or privacy of any individual.

Analytics can show you if the mood of your employees has taken a dip due to a market event or a new wave of the pandemic, and can even identify the top issues that cause your employees to struggle. Data can tell you how many employees showed an improvement in mental health, how engaged they are and how the digital companion changed the EAP utilization and that of other behavioral health support resources.

Meeting employees where they are

Employee wellbeing has never been as critical as it is now, and a majority of employees are struggling in the "missing middle of mental health" where they are uninspired and aimless, but not clinically depressed. Organizations are supplementing their traditional EAP support with digital companions.

To be effective, these solutions need to meet employees where they are, provide real-time personalized support and guide them through a variety of resources across the care continuum. Digital apps need to be grounded in clinical practice and have real-world evidence showing they have impact, maintain user anonymity and trust, and provide the organization with visibility into the mental wellbeing of the organization and how it is being impacted by the interventions the employer offers.

Jo Aggarwal is the founder and CEO of Wysa, a global leader in conversational AI for behavioral health. Previously, Aggarwal was the founding director for Technology & Innovation for a UN-backed foundation and has been the managing director of Pearson Learning Solutions in the U.K. Her work on mobile employability post-Arab Spring helped connect over 1 million young people to skills and jobs. She was recognized by the eLearning Center in the UK as one of the top three global thought leaders in education technology.

Read more: 

• Workplace mental health: Prioritizing employee well-being and work/life balance
• Strategies to help employees and teams thrive post-pandemic
• Making equity the standard in digital mental health