An employee wellbeing platform is the software and service through which an employer offers its staff a confidential counselling line, a wellness programme and perks, on top of salary and health insurance. It is also called an employee assistance programme (EAP), a wellness platform or a perks platform. Strictly, the EAP is only the counselling part.
It usually has three parts.
The first part is the counselling line, the EAP. Any employee, and often their family, can call, chat or book a video session with a trained counsellor, at any hour. The subjects range from work stress and anxiety to family problems, debt and grief. Usually, the first few sessions each year are free for the employee. The employer pays for the service. The provider uses a case-management system, which records each person's sessions and arranges further help, such as an online therapy course or a referral to a psychiatrist.
Confidentiality is the most important rule. The employer never learns who called, or why. It receives only totals, such as how many employees used the service in a quarter and the most common topics. This also follows India's data protection law, explained on the page on data protection law.
The second part is the wellness programme. It includes yearly health check-ups, doctor consultations on a telemedicine app, and challenges such as a monthly step count competition.
The third part is perks: discounts and vouchers for gyms, food, travel and shopping. These often come from a rewards and incentives platform, which holds a catalogue of gift cards and offers.
Consider a customer support company in Mohali with 900 staff, many of whom work night shifts. It adds a wellbeing platform. One night at 2 a.m., an employee who has just finished a difficult shift opens the app and chats with a counsellor. She books three video sessions for the following week. Her manager is not told. At the end of the quarter, HR receives a report: 68 employees, about 7.5%, used the counselling line, and the top topics were sleep, work stress and family. HR then changes the night-shift rota so that no one works more than four night shifts in a row.
In India, wellbeing is often sold together with group health insurance. In the United States, it is often part of benefits administration.