Enhancing Workplace Wellbeing: A Deep Dive into Mental Health Apps for Employees

How often do we talk about the importance of employees’ mental health?

I personally believe that we usually overlook this issue. So, today I want to point out this concern and talk about the importance of mental health for employees.

I know, I know we all are so hooked up with our daily tasks and the pressure of meeting deadlines that we often forget the world beyond screens.

But have you ever thought of the consequences of ignoring your mental health?

Remember that mental health is an important part of our lives posing an impact on our personal and workplace lives as well.

Accepting the importance of mental health and promoting open discussion can lead to happier and healthier homes and workplaces.

Moreover exploring solutions like mental health apps for employees can be a successful step towards employee mental wellness.

Rising Demand for Employees’ Mental Health Solutions

Promoting positive mental health at the workplace helps the team in performing well, enhancing their productivity level.

A positive working environment helps employees to do well in their roles, managing stress and enhancing flexibility. Mental health support for employees at the workplace has become a necessity.

Mental wellness solutions are needed for employees to thrive. There is no denying that work-related risk factors can have a negative impact on employees’ mental health.

Over the past few years, the concept of employee mental health has become an area of concern. And since then there has been a growth in mental health apps for employees.

From the beginning of the pandemic 2020, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) calculates that 40% of American adults have struggled with their mental health. Reportedly, 71 % of adults have difficulty managing stress, and even when the problems that cause stress are not work-related, their mental health affects their work performance.

Do you know the cost of untreated mental illness?

$225 billion is an astonishing number 🤯

And guess what? Most of the cost is due to poor work performance, absenteeism, and presenteeism.

Now, you will be amazed to see statistics from Inc., which tell that a struggle can cost an employee about $1600 every year. Only 20% of the cost is due to absenteeism, while approx 80% is due to presenteeism, or working while sick.

Globally estimated 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and poor mental health in general.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), risks to mental health may involve job content or work schedule, unsafe workplace conditions, or lack of career opportunities and development.

Other factors contributing to poor mental health conditions at work include excessive workload, long or inflexible working hours, understaffing, limited support from colleagues, job insecurity, unclear job roles, and conflicting work and home demands.

The above research and statistics lead us to the result that there might be an increasing demand for mental health programs in the workplace. There are many solutions but the most cost-effective and accessible solution can be found on the app store of your mobile phones.

Let’s delve into the case studies of wellness apps for employees to find out their journey and success stories.

Also Read: Bright Side of Screens: A Comprehensive Study of Mental Health Apps for Kids

1. Journey Meditation

What if I tell you that there is someone with you on your journey to mental wellness at the workplace?

With this solution, you might not have to wait for long hours for your turn at the psychologist clinic, just a single download on your phone and you are done.

Yes, you read that right…. I am talking about Journey Meditation, an amazing mental health app for employees founded by Stephen Sokoler in 2015.

It guides you via classes specifically designed for employees. Stress management and mental well-being programs are there to help every organization.

The goal behind the formation of this app is to make meditation approachable, accessible, and relevant to the lives of both employees and employers.

It also includes 30 30-minute journey classes at your workplace, which have already proven to increase productivity and confidence while reducing stress levels.

Zenefits a user-friendly human resources (HR) software platform claims that they use the journey meditation app and are in love with their meditation classes.

Its success speaks for itself with revenue of $14.5 Million with 484 daily website visitors, 4.5 stars on the Apple Store, and 500+ downloads on Play Store.

2. Joyable

Are you aware of the term social anxiety?

According to the Social Anxiety Institute:

Social anxiety is the fear of interacting with other people that brings on self-consciousness and feelings of being negatively judged and evaluated, and, as a result, leads to avoidance. Social anxiety is the fear of being judged and evaluated negatively by other people, leading to feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, embarrassment, humiliation, and depression.

If you or someone near you is struggling with this issue then know that Joyable is an employee wellness app designed to help people deal with social anxiety at the workplace.

Social anxiety can be a blockade to any career especially if someone has to network, meet, and interact with clients.

I think Joyable is one of the best mental health apps for employees to help break the social anxiety barrier. It guides users with solutions for their specific area of social anxiety and pairs with the coach to help them throughout the process via phone, email, and text using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) approach.

Joyable raises $2 Million to launch an app to help people get over their social anxiety.

“It is very well established in terms of its clinical opportunity,” Joyable co-founder and chief operating officer Steve Marks told VentureBeat in an interview. “It works equally well without a therapist if you do the exercises. It works in a self-help format.”

The therapy lasts for 12 weeks on average. It costs $99 a month, and people can pay $239 for a three-month package. More than 50 people have participated in the pilot. Marks didn’t want to say how many people are current customers, but he said the number keeps doubling month over month.

As Joyable looks to the future, they hope to treat more than social anxiety. CEO Peter Shalek said in an interview:

“We say that we want to cure the world of anxiety and depression. There are a lot of reasons why social anxiety is a good place to start, but we imagine going into generalized anxiety, OCD, PTSD, a whole range of conditions.”

Let’s look at the research to find out the positive impact of joyable mental health app for employees.

From the above statistics, we can now interpret that Joyable app is gaining success day by day generating $4.7M in revenue

Later, Able to acquire joyable. AbleTo will work to integrate Joyable’s mental health coaching app with its virtual care offering.

“Joyable was founded on the idea that everyone should be able to access high-quality behavioral health care. Joining AbleTo will allow us to expand our mission with a team that shares the same goal,” Joyable cofounder and CEO Peter Shalek said in a statement. “I am excited for Joyable to become part of a larger effort and continue to build and grow with our combined capabilities.”

3. Daylio Journal

What if I tell you that there is an online journal that can work as a workplace wellbeing app for employees?

You can count Daylio Journal as one of the best mental health apps for employees, being a self-care bullet journal it allows you to set your goals, and keep track of mood, and happiness.

It is an app developed by a company called Habitics which has a total of three apps.

According to Habitics’s Publisher Summary: Their top grossing app last month was Daylio Journal and their most downloaded app was Daylio Journal.

You can easily create your daily entries quickly within two steps by selecting the mood and activities you want to track.

The Daylio app has a 4.7-star rating from 35,100+ reviews in the Google Play Store and a 4.8-star rating from 31,500+ reviews in the Apple App Store.

Habitics total mobile app revenue in August 2023 was $50k, including < $5k for iOS apps and $50k for Android apps.

According to statistics by Sensor Tower: The top grossing app of habitics was Daylio Journal and their most downloaded app was Daylio Journal.

The above statistics lead us to the conclusion that the success of the Daylio Journal App is possibly increasing with a 4.7-star rating from 35,100+ reviews in the Google Play Store and a 4.8-star rating from 31,500+ reviews in the

Apple App Store.

4. The Simple Habit

In this world that does not seem to slow down and where stress has entered into our daily lives like an uninvited guest, Yunha Kim, a former Wall Street investment banker, had a vision. She wanted to support people to stress less, achieve more, and live better. And hence, Simple Habit was born.

It is an app that might soon become the rescuer for a number of busy individuals in search of peace. It is not just an employee wellness app but a promise to help regain your focus, enhance your memory, reduce stress, raise your creativity, and enjoy better sleep with just a few minutes of meditation each day.

“The world desperately needs better ways to manage stress and anxiety,” Steve Vassallo, general partner at Foundation, said in a statement. “That’s why Simple Habit is growing at a critical time. My partners and I believe in the great team at Simple Habit and their big vision to own the mental wellness and self-improvement market. We’ve been impressed with the company’s spectacular growth in just two short years. As a current leader in the massive health and wellness category, Simple Habit has an incredible opportunity to both do well and do good.”

Furthermore, Simple Habit does not stop at meditation but it also offers motivation to kick start your day and even coaching from the world’s well-known experts.

Now icing on the cake that Simple Habit is available on both iPhone and Android. you can upgrade to premium access for just US$11.99 per month or US$89.99 per year. And for those who’ve decided that Simple Habit is a lifelong companion, there’s a lifetime access option for US$299.99.

But wait the success of simple habit is not just a tale but it is also a story of financial achievement. The app’s annual revenue roams around an impressive $1.5 million, with 1 million+ downloads on the Google Play Store, and 10.8k monthly website visitors.

5. Unmind

Do you want to understand, measure, and improve your mental well-being in just a few simple taps?

Open your arms to welcome your new supporter in this journey called Unmind, one of the mental health apps for employees. This is your digital guide formed by Nick Taylor CEO and co-founder to manage your stress and anxiety.

Nick Taylor, during his period as a lead clinical psychologist in Britain’s National Health Service, realized the true importance of treating people with the right care at the right time and why the focus on mental health needs to be preventative.

You can use scientific-based assessments, tools, and training to measure and manage your personal mental health needs. It also includes digital programs to help you cope with stress, sleep, connection, fulfillment, and nutrition.

You just need to download the Unmind App from the App Store and here you go….

“The progressive companies we’ve partnered with over the last five years are out to drive meaningful cultural change, but they need help addressing every layer of the organization. Personal wellbeing tools alone are no longer enough to make the positive impact individuals and organizations need to flourish,” said Dr. Nick Taylor, clinical psychologist, co-founder, and CEO of Unmind. “That’s why we’ve built the cultural change platform – to help take the onus solely off the individual to look after their own mental health and give employers solutions to measure and improve wellbeing at all levels of the organization.”

I believe Unmind is a successful mental health app for employees with 4.2k daily website traffic, 100k+ downloads on Google Play stores, and an estimated annual revenue of $33.1 million per year.

From the above discussion and research what I concluded is that the demand for such apps is proven so developing high-quality mental health apps for employees can help developers contribute to society as well as achieve success.