Interest in mental health benefits increased dramatically in 2020, for obvious reasons — mental health problems spiked worldwide as people struggled with isolation, fear and maybe even the illness or death of family and friends.
Dozens of startups emerged to fill the urgent need for mental health services, and from my position on the front lines, many HR pros were overwhelmed and not equipped to ask the right questions about these new options. In particular, it seemed many evaluators were lax about requiring clinical validations, which I found strange. Companies would never deploy a new physical health program — for example, a weight loss or smoking cessation program without clinical validation, so why not demand the same evidence for a mental health program?
