Has virtual been a gamechanger for behavioral health?
Despite many competing priorities in the benefits environment, over the past five years HR leaders have stayed remarkably focused on supporting the mental health of their employees. Although we are now several years out from the COVID-19 pandemic, which underscored the importance of mental health care, our most recent National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans found that nearly two-thirds of large employers (500 or more employees) say expanding access to mental health care is still an important or very important part of their health benefits strategy.
This raises a couple of important questions, which we will address here. First, have we seen any progress from the efforts of the past several years? And secondly, how are employers’ efforts to support worker’s mental health evolving?
Yes, employers have made progress
The evidence is clear: More people are getting mental health care and plans are covering more office visits with mental healthcare providers. In a recent review of medical claims experience data since 2020, Mercer data analysts found a significant increase in the number of plan members receiving mental health care, from 7.1% of plan members having an behavioral healthcare office visit in in Q2 2019 (before the COVID-19 pandemic began) to 10.1% receiving care in the second quarter of 2025.
The new availability of virtual behavioral health care has been a gamechanger. One of the barriers to getting care is the shortage of mental health providers, particularly in rural areas; 49% of Americans live in a mental health workforce shortage area, and two-thirds of shortage areas are in rural or partially rural parts of the country. Employers have moved quickly to implement virtual behavioral health care networks, which help to ease at least some of the geographic challenges in finding care.
In addition, Mercer’s Survey on Health and Benefits Strategies for 2026 found that many companies are taking steps that help employees understand that it’s ok to seek mental health care, such as by providing manager training in recognizing mental health issues and steering workers to resources (36% of large employers have recently done so or will in 2026) and by conducting anti-stigma communication campaigns (20%). These types of actions may also be a factor in higher mental healthcare utilization rates.
New focus on stress management and resiliency
In addition to ongoing efforts to increase behavioral healthcare utilization and create a supportive work environment, employers are providing new tools to help employees with stress management and resiliency. Three-fourths of large employers (76%) are providing digital resources, such as mental health apps designed to help with relaxation, anxiety, depression, even post-traumatic stress disorder. About half (51%) are providing live coaching in these areas, either in-person or online. The importance of these efforts is underscored by a recent Mercer survey of workers, Health on Demand, which found that 45% of all employees – and over half of Gen Z and Millennial employees – feel stress most days at work. A third of all employees said they would value education, resources and tools to help with self-care, mindfulness and resilience.
Employee stress is a business risk as well as an HR problem. A recent study published in the Harvard Business Review found that high levels of stress translate into an added $5.3 million annually in costs for every 1,000 employees at a company. Their analysis detailed the cost of stress for employers across three areas: cost control (mainly higher health care costs), risk mitigation (worker errors, mistakes), and sustained performance (low productivity and turnover). Given the potential impact on business performance, for many employers, addressing and ameliorating employee stress is not optional.
Of course, providing stress management and resiliency tools resources isn’t the only way, or even the most important way, that employers can support employee mental health. Work factors that may positively impact mental health include reasonable work requirements, earning a living wage, affordable health insurance, organizational values, manager support, adequate retirement funding, and job security, to name a few. As employers increasingly recognize that work is a social determinant of health, they are focusing on creating healthier work environments. As a bonus, this type of support has the potential to enhance the bottom line – which means everyone wins.
