This article is a companion to The Hartford’s Spring Edition quarterly feature, “Is Empathy the Secret to Creating a Stigma-Free Work Culture?”
Fear, stress, burnout, anxiety – we’re all feeling the impacts of the pandemic. And even into 2021, we’re still getting through the boundary-blurring work-life challenges it unleashed in 2020.
These are not feelings. They are facts. The CDC reports more than 41% of Americans are experiencing symptoms of anxiety and depression.1 A 2020 survey by the American Psychological Association found that 70% of people felt stressed by work and economic worries.2 And a study by the Harvard Business Review showed that 85% of employees felt a decline in their wellbeing since COVID-19 began to spread.3
Mental health has officially become a secondary pandemic. Employers are responding in diverse ways, but one common thread is bumping up employee benefits to provide company-sponsored access to mental health and well-being apps. Below, we explore five popular apps offering enterprise-wide plans for employers.
Calm
Focus: Mental fitness, mindfulness, resilience
Program: Calm offers plans for small teams of 5-100 people and enterprise plans for 101+ people, which includes programming as well as reporting and analytics. Its program offers a wide range of meditation and breathing exercises, “sleep stories” narrated by famed voices, music and nature sounds, plus on-demand classes. The app also features family-centric content as well, including narrated bedtime stories for children. Clients include Lincoln, Kraft Heinz, Universal Music Group and GoFundMe.
Daylight
Focus: Worry and anxiety
Program: Daylight uses “stigma-free digital therapeutics,” including cognitive and behavioral techniques, to address worry and anxiety through short, animated videos and timed, self-reflexive exercises which are (ideally) done daily. The program is personalized over time as users take short quizzes and provide feedback through check-ins. Employers receive bi-annual reports on engagement as well as clinical outcomes and ROI. Clients include The Hartford, AmeriGas and Boston Medical Center.
eMindful
Focus: Mindfulness and addiction
Program: eMindful offers a multi-prong approach to mental health and well-being with expert-led live and on-demand content. Users can join in-app communities called “Vibe Tribes” based on their “purpose” and “vision for the world.” Immersive programs target addiction and tobacco, as well as cancer, anxiety, weight, diabetes, pain and compassion fatigue. Clients include The Hartford, Intuit, Aetna, Met Life and Mass Mutual.
Shine
Focus: Self-care
Program: The term self-care can mean many things, but within Shine, it’s rooted in “Acceptance Commitment Therapy.” This approach blends cognitive and behavioral tools to help users accept – rather than deny or avoid – difficult feelings and mental health challenges. Shine offers daily meditations (its current library includes more than 1,000 meditations), as well as daily mood and gratitude check-ins, mental health programs for stress and community, all with a dedicated focus on inclusivity and BIPOC individuals. Enterprise clients are not publically listed.
TalkSpace
Focus: Online therapy and psychiatry
Program: An early leader in the telehealth space, TalkSpace offers virtual access to licensed clinicians for mental health support. Users are matched with providers based on a short quiz, and once a provider is selected, direct access is made with a therapist or psychiatrist. The relationship is largely based on asynchronous communication via in-app texts and video messaging, but weekly live video sessions can also be scheduled. Enterprise plans allow access for employees, as well as health plan members, students and dependents. Clients include Cigna, Citi, Blackstone and LPGA.
The Hartford does not offer or provide the products or services noted in this article and cannot make any claims or promises that use of those products or services will result in improved mental health or less anxiety, stress or depression. All such products and services are provided by the companies referenced and not by The Hartford.
