EAPs & Virtual Therapy: High Impact, Low Cost
Let’s be honest: most employers want to support their employees’ mental health. But between rising healthcare costs, benefits fatigue, and time-starved HR teams, it’s easy for mental health to take a back seat, or get reduced to a quick blurb during open enrollment.
At BenX, we believe caring for people doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. In fact, two of the most powerful mental health benefits for small and mid-size employers are already sitting in your toolkit. Most companies just aren’t using them effectively.
Let’s break them down.
1. Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs): You Probably Have One. Your Team Just Doesn’t Know It.
If you’re offering a group medical plan or ancillary benefits (like life and disability coverage), chances are your carrier includes a free or low-cost EAP. These programs typically offer:
Short-term counseling (often 3–6 sessions per issue)
Legal and financial consultations
Help with stress, grief, family issues, and more
And here’s the kicker: it’s often free for both you and your employees.
So what’s the catch?
No one knows it exists.
EAPs tend to get lost in the noise of open enrollment when you're already trying to explain health insurance deductibles, how the 401(k) match works, and why your dental plan only covers two cleanings a year.
Here’s our advice: pull the EAP out of the shadows. Don’t bury it on page 13 of your benefits guide. Highlight it in onboarding, add it to your internal HR site, and remind your team about it a few times a year, especially during Mental Health Awareness Month or back-to-school season (a high-stress time for working parents).
Bottom line: if you have an EAP, don’t sleep on it. It’s one of the simplest, most accessible mental health tools you can offer.
2. Virtual Therapy: More Accessible Than Ever
A few years ago, offering virtual therapy as a standalone benefit felt like a luxury reserved for the Googles and Amazons of the world. That’s changed fast.
Today, small and mid-size employers can contract directly with virtual therapy vendors who offer a clean, simple solution:
You pay a flat PEPM (per employee, per month) fee
Your employees get access to a set number of therapy sessions per year (typically 4–10)
After that, employees can continue care at a discounted rate or pay out of pocket
Even better: this benefit can be offered to all employees, not just those on the company health plan. That’s a huge win if you have part-time, seasonal, or waived-coverage employees you still want to support.
Pro tip: Choose a vendor that integrates with your HRIS system or benefits platform, so it’s easy to roll out and even easier to promote. Bonus points if the vendor offers co-branded employee flyers or educational content you can use throughout the year.
Communicate Like It Matters (Because It Does)
Both EAPs and virtual therapy only work if employees actually use them. And that starts with consistent, clear, and empathetic communication.
Here are a few simple ways to get the word out:
Include EAP and virtual therapy info in your new hire onboarding packet
Send a standalone email or Slack message focused only on mental health resources (don’t bundle it with dental updates)
Add a slide to your next all-hands or open enrollment meeting specifically walking through how these benefits work
Encourage managers to normalize mental health conversations by reminding their teams these resources exist
Remember: for every employee who raises their hand and says “I’m struggling,” there are probably 10 more quietly dealing with anxiety, burnout, or family issues and unsure where to turn. Your job isn’t to diagnose or solve every problem. It’s to make sure your people know where to get help.