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.”

When employees decide to seek help for life’s challenges through their Employee Assistance Program (“EAP”), accessibility and convenience become crucial factors in whether they follow through. Traditional barriers—including scheduling difficulties, travel constraints and privacy concerns—often prevent people from accessing the support they need.

Magellan Healthcare’s EAP provides five different ways to access counseling: in-person, video, phone, text messaging and live chat.

This multi-modal strategy recognizes people with different comfort levels, scheduling constraints, geographic limitations and communication preferences when seeking help. By meeting individuals where they are—whether they prefer the personal connection of face-to-face sessions, the convenience of video calls or the immediate back-and-forth of live chat—organizations help remove critical barriers to entry for EAP services.

This flexibility increases initial engagement and improves ongoing participation, as individuals can seamlessly transition between modalities as their needs evolve or circumstances change. The result is an inclusive, accessible mental health support ecosystem that serves employees and their families more effectively, ultimately leading to better individual outcomes and greater value for the organization.

Offering multiple counseling modalities delivers several key business benefits:

• Increased utilization rates: When employees can access services on their terms, program participation rises by an average of 31% (Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 2023)
• Reduced barriers to entry: 67% of employees who would not pursue traditional therapy report a willingness to use digital mental health services (Harvard Business Review, 2024).
• Enhanced productivity: Access to appropriate mental health support can recover up to 27 productive workdays per employee annually (American Psychological Association, 2024)

For organizations EAP support is not just a benefit—it is a strategic investment with measurable returns. By offering multiple pathways to mental wellness, employers demonstrate commitment to their workforce while protecting their bottom line.

Magellan Healthcare focuses on connecting employees and their families to services that are accessible, responsive and holistic—and helping businesses build the healthy, engaged workforce they need to thrive.

Ready to learn how comprehensive mental health support can benefit your organization? Visit MagellanHealthcare.com/Employers.

In today’s fast-paced, high-pressure world, mental health has emerged as a critical public health concern. Suicide, now the 11^th leading cause of death in the United States, continues to be a major concern. After a brief decline in 2019 and 2020, suicide rates rose in 2021, with an average of 132 suicides per day—a 5% increase. The situation worsened in 2022, with an additional 3% increase, bringing the average to 135 suicides per day. By 2023, over 50,000 Americans died by suicide, marking the highest number on record. These concerning statistics underscore the importance of integrating targeted suicide prevention strategies into all behavioral health initiatives.

While Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) and behavioral health benefits from commercial and public insurers provide support for individuals facing mental health challenges, these organizations can further strengthen suicide prevention efforts by implementing data-driven systems that proactively manage and mitigate suicide risk, including:

• Early identification—Preventing crises before they escalate is critical. Utilizing predictive analytics, organizations can identify early warning signs and intervene promptly.
• Ongoing assessment—Continuous mental health monitoring allows care to be adjusted and personalized as needs evolve.
• Proactive outreach—At-risk individuals often don’t seek help on their own. Through population engagement tactics, such as targeted emails, app notifications and direct outreach by care managers trained in suicide prevention, organizations can ensure timely support reaches those in need.
• 24/7 supportive care—Round-the clock access to support is vital for effective suicide prevention. On-demand resources like digital tools for mental health and wellbeing, educational materials, safety plans, hotlines, crisis text lines and direct connections to mental health professionals provide individuals with the help they need, whenever they need it.
• Specialized care management—Licensed clinicians trained in mental health services and evidence-based practices have the expertise to deliver essential support to at-risk individuals, including designing individualized care plans to enhance protective factors, such as building social support networks and improving problem-solving skills and using ongoing remote monitoring to adjust and personalize interventions as needs evolve.
• Sub-specialty networks—Access to clinicians specializing in mental health conditions ensures at-risk individuals receive the focused care they need. Also, subspecialty medical clinics and primary care providers should screen for mental health conditions. Some physical health conditions (e.g., traumatic brain injury and cancer), can carry a risk of suicide.
• Outcomes and data-driven approach—Using data to measure the effectiveness of suicide prevention programs allows organizations to continuously refine their strategies, ensure efficient use of resources and better target interventions.

Integrating data-driven targeted suicide prevention and risk management strategies can significantly enhance the effectiveness of EAP programs and behavioral health benefits provided by private and public insurers. Early detection of warning signs and timely interventions can reduce the risk of suicide, save lives and foster a healthier, more resilient society.

Learn how Magellan Healthcare’s data-driven approach is helping organizations safeguard lives here.

Sources:

• CDC
• CDC
• NBC News