Despite increases in awareness and investment by employers around mental health and wellbeing, absence levels at work in the UK are increasing, with mental ill health and stress being cited as the main reasons (CIPD 2025).
The meteoric rise of mental health apps
There are now a large number of mental health apps available to organisations to offer their staff, with tremendous variety and functions. The rollout is remarkable, with a suggested 50% of the UK workforce having free access to one.
The Mental health app one stop shop
Despite the array of products on offer, there are only a handful of workplace apps, which, increasingly driven by AI, purport to deliver strategic, evidence based mental health and wellbeing support. Some of these apps aim to provide a one-stop shop for the whole organisation, where there is both a focus on optimising employee wellbeing and identifying and treating mental ill health for all staff.
The regular screening of employee mental ill health is considered to be a wise return on investment (Deloitte 2022), and good mental health apps offer this service, with clear pathways towards treatment where it is needed.
Why is the impact not represented across the workforce?
Given the development and investment in these products, why is the rollout of mental health apps not appearing to have a broader impact on mental ill health and stress of the workforce?
Concerning apps, here are few insights:
Using science
Firstly only a handful of the apps are actually based in scientific evidence, so being mindful of this is absolutely essential when considering products.
App uptake
Secondly, where organisations have strong, active promotion and positive culture around mental health, mental health apps only average around 20% uptake of the workforce. Once downloaded, they tend to have a low engagement rate (of around 4%). Download and engagement rates also vary significantly according to age, with younger people, women and those with degrees more likely to engage.
These figures suggest that there is a significant proportion of the workforce that does not currently engage with a mental health app, and most will not use it regularly, even when offered for free.
Automated screening
Thirdly, even regarding those who do engage with a mental health app, there is concern around the ‘automated’ screening of a workforce, as the process can cause more stress to those who may need additional support.
Composite strategies
The reliance alone on an app to optimise wellbeing and regularly screen all staff for mental ill health is unlikely to be a successful preventative measure in its own right, and currently needs to be offered alongside evidence-based initiatives and organisational culture change.
Reaching everyone with a human touch
Given that mental health apps are not ubiquitous in their uptake, increasingly companies are investing in professionals to meet all staff for regular check-ins. This approach takes away the reliance on the algorithm, ensuring staff have genuine empathic interactions when discussing their wellbeing and mental health. This is most likely a future direction that will see significant positive results across the whole workforce, including those who have never used, or rarely use mental health apps.
Looking forward
The huge development and success of evidence based mental health apps should most certainly be celebrated as they are having a positive impact on both optimising wellbeing, and ‘catching’ signs of mental ill health among those that engage with them. Given that young people are more likely to use them, engagement rates may well increase over time, as the culture evolves and apps get better. However, we are a far cry from relying on them as standalone solutions and organisations should be acutely aware that they will only form part of the solution for a long time to come.
CIPD (2025) Health and wellbeing at work. https://www.cipd.org/globalassets/media/knowledge/knowledge-hub/reports/2025-pdfs/8920-Health-and-wellbeing-report-2025.pdf
Hampson, E., Polner, A., Assal, V. and Abrahams, N. (2022) Mental health and employers: The case for investment – pandemic and beyond. London: Deloitte. Available from: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/consultancy/deloitte-uk-mental-health-report-2022. pdf
Dr Jonathan Banes (DClin Psychol), Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Lead at Hedroc
About the author: Dr Jonathan Banes is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Lead at Hedroc. He has over 20 years experience, specialising in staff wellbeing, mental health and organisational strategy. He has a special interest in reviewing and developing evidence-based psychological approaches that improve staff wellbeing and prevent mental ill health.
Hedroc is an associate platform of clinicians, delivering pioneering mental health initiatives that compliment evolving organisational strategy. This includes peer supervision for Mental Health First Aiders, Champions and trauma-exposed staff, sick leave and return to work clinical support, wellbeing coaching, and mental health screening and treatment.
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