In the last few years, mental health in the United States has been on the decline. The rise in mental health concerns has led to the demand for employers to offer more robust mental health benefits. Despite employers prioritizing mental health benefits as part of their offerings in the last few years, many employees are still not using them. This lack of utilization prevents employees who may benefit from these offerings from receiving help and can negatively impact employers. Workforces with poor mental health can lead to decreased employee well-being, lower morale and productivity, increased absenteeism and potentially high turnover rates.
A 2025 survey by the National Alliance on Mental Illness found that 1 in 4 workers is unaware whether their employers offer mental health benefits, employee assistance programs, flexible work arrangements or sick days for mental health. Of those that are aware, only half understand how to access these benefits.
In order to strategize ways to increase mental health benefit utilization, it’s essential to understand the barriers preventing employees from utilizing them. There are several reasons why employees are not widely utilizing employer-provided mental health benefits, such as the following:
- Lack of communication—Employees may simply be unaware of the benefits their organization provides.
- Insufficient education—Workers may lack the training and information on how and where to access mental health benefits.
- No time—Many employees don’t make time to learn about the mental health benefits their employers provide.
- Mental health stigma—Some workers may still face a stigma related to mental health or be perceived negatively for seeking assistance.
- Cost concerns—While many benefits resources may be low- or no-cost to employees, they may not be aware of what resources are cost-effective or have cost concerns. Potentially high costs of some mental health benefits, such as deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses, could prevent employees from utilizing them. Additionally, employees may not know what care is covered under their health plans.
To improve mental health outcomes, it’s crucial to do more than just offer the right benefits. Employers can consider the following practices to increase employee utilization of their mental health resources:
- Train managers on the available benefits. Managers can be key to the utilization of mental health benefits. Since employees interact with managers often, these leaders are well-positioned to promote mental health care and related resources among employees. Thoroughly training these leaders on available benefits allows them to share information with employees or be available for questions.
- Regularly educate employees on offerings. While open enrollment is a great time to highlight benefits resources, mental health benefits should be communicated regularly throughout the year so that employees continually know what resources are available to them. Employers can effectively communicate and provide education through multiple channels, including emails, newsletters and meetings.
- Foster a mental health-friendly culture. Creating a company culture that is supportive of mental health may encourage employees to use mental health benefits. Employers and managers should encourage open communication about mental health and available resources.
- Help employees understand and access their benefits. Providing clarity on how to use their benefits can make employees feel more confident in accessing them.
- Get feedback on desired benefits. Gathering employee feedback on which mental health benefits they find useful can help employers tailor their benefits options to maximize utilization. Employers can use anonymous surveys to obtain this information, and they should communicate any changes made based on the feedback received.
Even though the availability of mental health benefits has increased in the last few years, many employees have not been using them due to a number of barriers. By understanding these barriers to utilization and implementing strategies, employers can improve the effectiveness of their mental health benefits. This can enhance employees’ well-being as well as support productivity and engagement, ultimately contributing to organizations’ bottom line.
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