Your employees can’t find their EAP. Here’s the proof

Career wellbeing is the most under addressed pillar and the one most likely to make an employer’s entire wellbeing investment pointless if ignored. 

“Even if you have the right care and you’re going to therapy, you’re managing your stress, if you don’t have a great boss, or you have no growth, or you’re not paid appropriately, that’s a direct hit on the organizational health and wellbeing,” she says. “You might as well just burn your money.” 

In practice, the framework functions as a diagnostic lens for HR rather than a rigid checklist. When cost conversations focus on GLP-1 spend, the mental wellbeing conversation is already in the room because stress, nutrition, and behavioral health are deeply intertwined. And the metrics worth tracking go beyond traditional utilization numbers: rate of access, first call resolution speed, and increasingly, AI safety protocols in mental health delivery, specifically at what level of clinical acuity an employee should be talking to an AI versus a human therapist. 

Beyond the annual enrollment 

The role of HR in shaping workforce wellbeing has expanded considerably, and so have the expectations on it. 

According to LIMRA data, approximately 79 percent of US employers turn to their group benefits advisors to help evaluate benefits choices. That puts HR leaders in a powerful position: the questions you ask of those advisors, and the strategic framing you bring to those conversations, will largely determine whether your benefits investment moves the needle or simply occupies a line in your renewal deck.