In today’s interconnected world, the boundaries between work and home life have never been more blurred. As employers strive to create supportive workplaces, one crucial reality is clear: when an employee’s child struggles with mental health challenges, the entire family—and workplace—feels the impact.

The Teen Mental Health Crisis Affecting Your Workplace

The statistics tell a compelling story about why employers can no longer afford to overlook teen mental health:

• More than 50% of working parents report needing additional support from their employers to manage their children’s wellbeing¹.
• Over half of working parents have missed work specifically to address their child’s mental health needs².
• Spending on mental health services for teenagers has surged by 55% from 2013 to 2020³.

These numbers represent real workplace challenges: decreased productivity, increased absenteeism, higher healthcare costs and employees who are present physically but distracted mentally by concerns about their children.

The Ripple Effect on Your Organization

When employees are worried about their teens, the consequences extend throughout your organization:

• Reduced focus and productivity as parents attempt to manage their children’s mental health crises during work hours⁴.
• Increased healthcare utilization as families seek increasingly scarce mental health resources⁵.
• Higher turnover risk as employees seek employers who understand and support their family needs⁶.
• Diminished workplace wellbeing as the stress of parenting distressed teens follows employees to work.

In today’s competitive talent landscape, supporting the whole family isn’t just compassionate it’s a strategic business advantage.

Introducing Magellan’s Collaboration with BeMe: A Revolutionary Approach

Recognizing this critical need, Magellan Healthcare has teamed up with BeMe to offer a groundbreaking solution designed specifically for teens and young adults ages 13-22. This innovative mobile platform meets young people exactly where they are–on their phones–providing accessible mental health support that actually resonates with this digitally native generation.

The BeMe app takes a proactive, science-backed approach to teen mental wellbeing by:

• Building resilience and self-understanding through age-appropriate tools and resources.
• Creating a secure, supportive digital environment where teens can freely express and explore their emotions.
• Empowering young people to take an active role in their mental health journey.

What Makes BeMe Different from Other Mental Health Solutions

BeMe stands apart through its comprehensive, evidence-based approach that includes:

• Personalized content and activities.
• Over 40,000 engaging resources.
• Live one-on-one coaching.
• Seamless integration with Magellan’s Employee Assistance Program for virtual counseling sessions.
• 24/7 crisis support resources for immediate assistance.

Becoming an Employer of Choice

In a competitive talent market, family-supportive benefits are increasingly becoming a differentiator. By offering BeMe, your organization:

• Demonstrates genuine commitment to employee wellbeing that extends beyond the workplace.
• Addresses a critical need that many working parents are struggling to manage alone.
• Positions your company as forward-thinking and responsive to real-life employee challenges.
• Creates a supportive culture that recognizes employees as whole people with family responsibilities.

The Bottom Line

The mental health crisis among teens isn’t just a family issue, it’s a workplace issue that directly impacts your organization’s performance, healthcare costs and employee retention. By partnering with Magellan and BeMe, employers can offer a turnkey solution that makes a meaningful difference in the lives of employees while simultaneously strengthening organizational outcomes.

Ready to explore how Magellan Healthcare’s Employer Solutions can transform your benefits offering and support your employees’ families? Visit MagellanHealthcare.com/Employers.

References:

1. Magellan Healthcare and Workplace Options Working Parent Research Study, 2022
2. American Psychological Association, Stress in America 2023 Survey
3. Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI), “Health Care Spending on Children and Young Adults,” 2022 Report
4. Harvard Business Review, “The Impact of Employee Wellbeing on Productivity,” 2023
5. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, “Parental Stress and Workplace Outcomes,” 2022
6. Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), “Family-Friendly Benefits and Retention,” 2023 Survey

Every employer wants their workforce to be fully engaged and productive. Yet a growing challenge undermines this goal: presenteeism, where employees are physically present but mentally distracted by personal responsibilities that drain their focus and energy.

The numbers reveal the scope of this challenge. Research from Harvard Business Review shows employees spend 41% of their time on discretionary activities that add little value and could be delegated to others. Meanwhile, the juggling act of modern life—coordinating childcare, managing elderly parent care, and handling household responsibilities while working from home—creates a perfect storm of workplace distraction.

The impact on working family caregivers is particularly striking. More than 23% report either missing work or struggling with reduced performance due to caregiving responsibilities. For those affected, caregiving can reduce work productivity by approximately one-third, translating to an estimated $5,600 per employee when annualized across all employed caregivers. This productivity loss primarily stems from the stress and fatigue that employees bring into their workday.

A Strategic Solution Emerges

Forward-thinking employers are addressing this challenge head-on with practical support systems. Magellan Healthcare’s EAP with Care Membership offers employees unlimited access to the world’s largest network of service providers, streamlining the process of finding and booking both short-term and long-term care for their loved ones.

This employer-paid benefit eliminates the hours employees typically spend searching for reliable caregiving support and household assistance. Instead of scrolling through endless online listings or making countless phone calls during work hours, employees can quickly access vetted professionals through a comprehensive platform.

The Care Membership service spans a full spectrum of family needs, including childcare providers, senior and disability caregivers, respite care, babysitters, housekeepers, errand services, tutors, and pet care professionals—all accessible via a website and mobile app.

Streamlined Process, Verified Results

The platform prioritizes both convenience and safety. Employees can search for qualified providers by location and filter results based on hourly rates, availability, experience levels, and specific qualifications. Every caregiver undergoes background screening before joining the platform, with additional background checks and safety resources available for employees who want extra assurance. There are referral specialists to help employees find the best candidates for their specific needs. Once employees find the right provider, they can easily arrange services and payment through the platform.

The Business Case for Care Support

The Care Membership program demonstrates an employer’s genuine commitment to work-life balance, moving beyond surface-level benefits to address real challenges employees face daily.

With this support system in place, stress-related absenteeism decreases when employees know their family responsibilities are professionally managed. Presenteeism diminishes as mental bandwidth previously consumed by caregiving coordination becomes available for work tasks.

Employee retention improves when workers feel truly supported in managing their complex lives.

When employees trust that their loved ones are in capable hands, they can fully invest their mental energy in their professional responsibilities. This creates a positive cycle where reduced stress leads to improved performance, reinforcing the value of the support system.

Investing in Care Membership represents more than just an employee benefit—it is a strategic decision that strengthens the entire workforce’s capacity to perform at its best. In today’s competitive talent market, this kind of meaningful support can differentiate employers who genuinely understand the realities of modern working life.

Learn more about Care Membership through Magellan’s EAP here.

Source:

• Fakeye, Samuel, Drabo, Bandeen-Roche and Wolff. (2022). “Caregiving-Related Work Productivity Loss among Employed Family and other Unpaid Caregivers of Older Adults.”

In today’s workplace environment, employee mental health has emerged as a critical factor affecting organizational performance and success. Digital mental health platforms are increasingly being adopted as effective tools to support employee wellbeing while simultaneously improving business outcomes. Magellan Healthcare’s Digital Emotional Wellbeing Program, powered by NeuroFlow, is a core component of our Employee Assistance Program and a strategic solution that transforms mental health support from a cost center into a productivity driver.

Understanding the Business Impact of Mental Health Challenges

Recent research has revealed the significant economic implications of mental health issues in the workplace:

• The World Health Organization estimates that depression and anxiety cost the global economy approximately $1 trillion annually in lost productivity (2022)
• Employees working while struggling mentally (presenteeism) experience an average 8% productivity decline (Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2023)
• Healthcare costs for employees with untreated mental health conditions are typically 20% higher (Milliman Research Report, 2020)
• Employee turnover related to burnout and mental health issues costs organizations an estimated $3,000 per employee annually (SHRM/Kronos Study, 2021)

How Digital Mental Health Solutions Are Addressing These Challenges Head-On

Modern digital mental health solutions deliver value across multiple dimensions:

1. Healthcare Cost Reduction – Digital tools that help employees track mood, sleep patterns and pain levels while building coping skills can identify mental health concerns before they escalate. The American Journal of Managed Care has found that early digital interventions can reduce overall healthcare costs by 15-23%.
2. Productivity Improvements – Access to evidence-based relaxation techniques, breathing exercises, and stress management tools directly translates to improved performance and reduced absenteeism. A 2023 Deloitte analysis revealed that companies investing in digital mental health resources saw a $4.20 return for every dollar spent through productivity enhancements.
3. Talent Attraction and Retention Benefits – In today’s competitive labor market, organizations that demonstrate commitment to employee wellbeing gain an edge in recruiting and retaining valuable talent. According to Gallup’s 2023 State of the Global Workplace report, 61% of employees consider mental health benefits “very important” when evaluating job opportunities.
4. Privacy and Accessibility Considerations – Effective digital mental health platforms should be HIPAA-compliant and accessible via multiple channels, ensuring all employees can benefit regardless of technology access. Strong confidentiality measures should protect sensitive health information while still providing organizational leaders with anonymized, aggregate insights.

A Strategic Business Decision

Mental health initiatives aren’t simply about compliance or expanding employee benefits—they represent strategic investments that directly impact operational excellence, innovation capacity and organizational resilience.

Investing in digital emotional wellbeing empowers employees to manage stress, build resilience and improve overall mental health—leading to a healthier, more productive workforce. Magellan Healthcare’s Digital Emotional Wellbeing Program, powered by NeuroFlow, offers accessible, evidence-based tools such as digital cognitive behavioral therapy (DCBT), mindfulness techniques and behavior tracking to support employees anytime, anywhere.

With proactive engagement features like gamification, rewards and automated check-ins, employees stay actively involved in their wellbeing journey. Employers also benefit from enterprise-level reporting that highlights workforce wellbeing trends while maintaining confidentiality. Prioritizing emotional wellbeing not only enhances workplace culture but also drives long-term business success.

By implementing comprehensive digital mental health solutions, organizations aren’t just supporting employee wellbeing—they’re making evidence-based investments in their company’s performance and long-term success.

Learn more about Magellan Employer Solutions.

Sources:

• World Health Organization. (2022). Mental Health and Work: Impact, Issues and Good Practices.
• Hemp, P. (2023). “Presenteeism: At Work—But Out of It.” Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 65(3), 252-263.
• Milliman Research Report. (2020). “How do individuals with behavioral health conditions contribute to physical healthcare costs?”
• Society for Human Resource Management & Kronos. (2021). “Employee Burnout: Causes and Cures.”
• Mordecai, D., et al. (2021). “Digital Mental Health Interventions: Cost-Effectiveness Analysis.” American Journal of Managed Care, 27(5), 196-203.
• Deloitte UK. (2023). “Mental health and employers: The case for investment – pandemic and beyond.”
• Gallup. (2023). “State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report.”

According to Gallup®, 70% of the population is struggling or suffering, and 70% of employees are not engaging at work. Investing in wellbeing at work is critical to the success of your employees and organization.

The impact of wellbeing extends far beyond how employees feel — it affects the number of sick days they take, their job performance, burnout levels, retention rates and the organization’s bottom line.

We will dive into these issues in this blog post, and you can learn by listening to the webinar recording: “eMbrace the link between employee engagement and wellbeing.”  Click here to access the recording.

Organizations should care about wellbeing

Contrary to what many believe, wellbeing is not just about being happy or physically fit. Wellbeing encompasses all aspects of our lives:  how our lives are going, feeling good about our thoughts life experiences and what is important to us.

Poor wellbeing affects employees and organizations:

• 75% of medical costs accrued are due to largely preventable conditions.
• $20 million of additional lost opportunity for every 10,000 workers due to struggling or suffering employees.
• $322 billion of turnover and lost productivity costs globally due to employee burnout.

 In contrast, employees with high wellbeing are more resilient during widespread or personal tough times, less likely to have unplanned days out of the office and more engaged than those with low wellbeing.

Traditional EAPs are not enough

Traditional Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) fall short because they average about 5% engagement and focus mainly on distressed employees. Low utilization and a reactive model leave a large gap to fill to meet the wellbeing needs of all employees. Organizations need a proactive program that benefits all employees.

Learn more in the webinar recording.

Building a thriving culture of wellbeing

Leaders that bring engagement and wellbeing together create a high-performance environment where the two inform and build on one another. Magellan Healthcare and Gallup® collaborated to create eMbrace, a fully integrated, evidence-based solution delivering improved employee wellbeing and engagement across six key areas of their lives: Emotional, Career, Social, Financial, Physical and Community.

Through eMbrace, employees and organizations can measure their wellbeing and discover where they are suffering, struggling, and thriving. Employees receive a personalized plan that guides them to services and resources to help them improve their total wellbeing and lead thriving lives.

Resources:

• https://www.gallup.com/workplace/215924/well-being.aspx
• https://www.gallup.com/workplace/320297/invest-employees-wellbeing-afford-not.aspx
• https://www.gallup.com/workplace/358082/struggling-suffering-employees-twice-likely-leave.aspx