Clinically reviewed by Chris Mosunic, PhD, RD, MBA, Chief Clinical Officer, Calm
Declining employee well‑being is putting organizations at risk. High stress levels are strongly linked to lower productivity and reduced work satisfaction, for example. Burned‑out employees are far more likely to be actively looking for new jobs.
The latest workplace well-being data underscores the urgency: 50% of employees in the US and Canada report experiencing high daily stress, and nearly 30% of US workers say they feel burned out “very often or always,” according to Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report.
With such high stakes, employers are reassessing their well-being vendors and demanding evidence of positive outcomes. Yet most employers—65%—don’t feel equipped to support the emotional and mental health needs of their workforce.
In this environment, consultants can play a pivotal role. By supporting employers in evaluating, integrating, and optimizing mental health programs and products, they can position themselves as strategic partners. And by helping employers adopt innovative, proactive, and holistic approaches to workforce mental well-being, they can become instrumental to organizational success and leaders in modern mental health conversations.
How traditional EAPs limit consultant involvement
More than 80% of employers, including roughly 90% of large employers, now offer EAP services. The widespread adoption is understandable: EAPs have demonstrated value in supporting employees and helping organizations manage rising mental health–related costs.
But EAPs on their own are not enough to meaningfully improve workforce mental well‑being—and they inherently limit the strategic opportunity for consultants.
One of the biggest challenges is persistently low utilization. Even as mental health concerns remain high across the workforce, only a small fraction of employees ever engage with their EAP. Stigma, confidentiality worries, the perception that EAPs are only for acute crises, and navigation barriers all contribute to low use.
And when engagement is low, consultants have limited visibility into population‑level mental health trends. Without meaningful data or patterns to analyze, it’s difficult to guide employers toward more proactive, strategic investments in workforce well‑being.
Further, because traditional EAPs tend not to be used as preventive tools, organizations and consultants miss the opportunity to access data that could signal trends as they emerge, such as growing stress or anxiety in response to events. Without visibility or insight into the current state of workforce mental health and well-being, consultants don’t have the chance to guide potential upstream interventions that could make a positive impact.
How modern products enable continuous, insight-driven dialogue
In contrast, by engaging more employees earlier and offering access to population data and analytics, modern mental health–support products create opportunities for consultants to have strategic conversations with clients.
For example, Calm Health drives utilization across the entire workforce—not just among those who need counseling or therapy—by inviting employees to complete a mental health screening and enter their personal goals and topics of interest. Through an analytics dashboard, Calm Health gives HR administrators and consultants access to
- The top health goals across the workforce;
- The highest-priority conditions (e.g., anxiety, diabetes, obesity, cancer) in the employee population; and
- How the workforce is scoring on mental health screenings over time; e.g., whether anxiety or depression symptoms are rising, falling, or staying the same.
With these insights, consultants are well-positioned to help clients define a targeted workforce well-being strategy, flag risks as they emerge, assess performance over time, and adjust strategies to best address employee needs. Access to this data also allows consultants to tie well-being investments to business outcomes, such as lower attrition rates and enhanced productivity.
Personalization and triage as consultant value drivers
A study of 6,200+ employees across 16 companies found that organizations that offer targeted interventions rather than a one-size-fits-all approach may see the greatest impact on the health of their employees.
Indeed, personalized pathways or recommendations are a powerful way to help employees find and use relevant mental well-being programs. For example, Calm Health uses an employee’s self-reported goals, topics of interest, and mental health–screening results to recommend specific programs—e.g., condition-specific, evidence-based programs; mindfulness tools; EAP services; crisis lines; and other employer-sponsored resources.
Personalized mental health support also allows consultants to help organizations differentiate the employee experience. For example, if an organization has high costs related to weight management or cancer, a consultant can recommend mental health programs that offer specialized support for employees with either condition. Similarly, if a client has large Gen Z, LGBTQ+, Black, or other populations in their workforce, consultants can suggest mental well-being products that provide evidence-based programs and mindfulness tools designed specifically for the group(s) of interest.
Furthermore, products that capture data about user behavior in response to personalized recommendations empower organizations and consultants. With visibility into user views and click-through rates, they can gain insight into the utilization and value of specific benefits and make changes as needed.
Segmented reporting capabilities enable employers and consultants to tailor strategies
Segmented reporting allows HR administrators and consultants to gain even deeper insights about employee engagement patterns.
For example, Calm Health allows employers to identify variables in the eligibility file to better understand how specific groups are using the product. Administrators can define segments based on country or state, department, employee type, occupational category, health insurer, age range (e.g., under 20, 20–30, 31–40, 41–50, 51–60), and gender.
They can then generate reports organized by segments to identify engagement trends and tailor strategies and outreach accordingly.
Using analytics to guide ongoing recommendations
With access to rich data and analytics, consultants can gain insights and help guide year-round well-being strategy conversations with clients, not just annual renewals. The following are some examples:
- Quarterly and monthly reporting creates natural checkpoints for strategic discussions.
- Population-level insights enable consultants to identify high-need groups—e.g., managers, Gen Z, women, or employees in specific locations or departments—and develop targeted strategies.
- Consultants can combine program-utilization data, trend data from mental health screenings, and employee survey data and commentary to develop a clearer picture of workforce mental health, utilization of benefits, and where strategies need to evolve.
For instance, trend analysis in Calm Health can support adjustments to benefits design, programs for specific populations, and benefits-communication strategies. Analytics help elevate consultants from transactional support to strategic partners, which helps build confidence around renewal and budgeting discussions.
Calm Health makes it easier for consultants to lead workforce mental health strategy
In short, modern mental health products like Calm Health can elevate and strengthen the role of consultants in workforce mental health strategy.
Personalized pathways and recommendations, employee engagement at every stage of the mental health journey, higher utilization of resources, and segmented reporting are some of the capabilities that give consultants new insights and the opportunity to make a positive advisory impact year-round.
That impact drives positive momentum by enabling consultants to earn the trust and confidence of their clients and expand their sphere of influence.
Calm Health equips consultants to deliver an integrated mental health–benefits ecosystem; a differentiated employee experience with programs targeting specific conditions, tools, and resources designed for specific populations; and the data and tools to stay central and indispensable to client well-being decisions. In this way, modern mental health–support products like Calm Health are relationship accelerators, opening doors to more strategic, data-driven conversations.
