4 Questions to Ask Before You Invest In a Workplace Wellness App

In recent years, mental health and wellness apps have surged in popularity as organizations aim to prioritize employee well-being. These tools promise to raise awareness about mental health and offer features to reduce stress and anxiety, support employees through life’s transitions (such as new parenthood or grief), and address workplace stressors.

These apps are part of a broader investment by organizations, as the corporate wellness industry is expected to be worth $85 billion by 2030. While this increase may be a step in the right direction for the workforce at large, a new study published by Oxford University found the effectiveness of well-being programs is low, as individual interventions like wellness apps do not address the broader workplace culture.

In my experience as a leader and culture change strategist in workplace mental health, this finding rings true. The reality is that workplace issues such as burnout are still rising at alarming levels, regardless of whether a company has invested in the technology to “fix” employee mental health and well-being. But that doesn’t mean organizations should stop trying to make headway: 81% of workers reported that they will be looking for workplaces that support mental health in the future.

You may wonder whether mental health or wellness apps are worth the investment, especially since apps alone are unlikely to significantly improve employee well-being. My answer is: they can be, but only if they’re paired with a broader strategy. For example, one company I worked with achieved a 40% increase in workforce engagement within the first six months and reduced attrition by 12% over two years by leveraging key data insights from an app as part of a larger initiative.

So, if you’re considering purchasing and integrating such a tool in your organization, here are some questions you should ask:

Why Do We Want to Invest in an App?

Many organizations expect wellness apps to serve as a magic cure for all workplace stressors, shifting the burden of addressing workplace stressors entirely onto employees. This “carewashing” approach not only oversimplifies complex workplace issues but also risks absolving leadership from their responsibility to address the root causes of things like employee burnout.

To avoid this — and realize an effective ROI for apps as part of a larger well-being strategy — you must first revisit the “why” behind your company’s efforts. Wellness tools should address underlying organizational stressors such as capacity constraints, lack of recognition, and toxic leadership, in addition to individual challenges. They should serve as a supplementary strategy, not the primary solution. Without a strong hypothesis about what employees actually need help with, utilization rates will remain low.

How Can We Set the Stage for Introducing an App?

Once you’ve identified the key stressors you want to target, ensure that you’re building trust around well-being and mental health issues throughout your organization. Without trust, employees will not feel psychologically safe to voice their concerns or utilize the app because of internalized fear and stigma.

There are three key steps to building trust:

Be vulnerable (to a degree).

As a starting point, leaders should role model vulnerability by sharing their own mental health or wellness experiences, where appropriate, which helps to reduce stigma both personally and socially. I often advise leaders to share personal stories they feel comfortable with to connect authentically with their teams. For example, when I began talking about my mental health journey, I mentioned attending therapy to manage stress while navigating challenges tied to my queer identity and South Asian background. I did not want to elaborate on the source of my stress or the work I did to understand my culture — simply noting that I attended therapy felt sufficient. Vulnerability doesn’t mean oversharing. Rather, it’s about showcasing your humanity in a way that feels true to you.

Recognize the different ways trust is cultivated.

It is important to note that trust manifests differently across communities. Leadership storytelling can help build trust with some employees, but for many marginalized groups, trust is deeply tied to how they are treated at work. For those employees, trust often requires more than personal narratives — it demands open communication, a willingness to listen to feedback, and visible accountability in addressing workplace stressors. When leaders meet these expectations, they not only foster trust but create environments that protect and enhance mental health. For example, in the AAPI community, trust is often built through advocacy and allyship — leaders highlighting employees’ contributions, especially in spaces where we are not present. When employees see their efforts acknowledged, it boosts engagement and faith in leadership, which is crucial for marginalized groups whose identities are often deeply tied to their work.

Collect and analyze data on current initiatives.

As organizations work to build trust, they should also collect data to evaluate the effectiveness of their current mental health and wellness initiatives. Trust isn’t built overnight; employees need to see consistent and meaningful efforts that demonstrate leadership’s commitment to progress and change. Evaluating current systems not only signals a willingness to improve but also fosters confidence in the organization’s intentions. Employee surveys, for example, can help identify gaps in support and awareness, providing valuable insights for refining initiatives, building stronger trust over time, and pointing you in the direction of which apps may be best suited for current challenges.

If survey data is lacking, seeking feedback beyond HR is valuable, as HR may not have the same day-to-day perspective as employees. Employee resource groups (ERGs) offer meaningful input, especially when considering which tools may be more effective for historically marginalized groups.

How Do We Select the Right Vendor?

Once you’ve set the groundwork by identifying your “why” and building trust across your organization, you can then begin researching which app will work best for your employees and your goals. This can take time; in a previous role, I relied on two years of workforce data to select the right vendors for a wellness app.

As you vet vendors, here are a few critical questions I’ve uncovered to help guide your decisions:

How does the app engage and educate leaders about mental health?

Similar to how leaders have the power to build trust within the organization, they also play a critical role in shaping the mental health culture at work. A vendor that engages leaders can help support a broader wellness strategy, as well as provide them with the relevant support to address their employees’ workplace stressors — and their own.

Does it offer data on usage and insights into stressors?

Data helps measure the effectiveness of mental health and wellness initiatives. Vendors that provide confidential and aggregate usage metrics and identify stressors like burnout offer actionable insights, helping you refine your wellness strategy to meet employee needs.

How does the app address organizational challenges?

Look for an app that tackles operational stressors, such as workload management or performance pressures, in addition to more individual issues. This ensures that your wellness strategy addresses both emotional well-being and practical work-related stress.

Is a trial period available to evaluate effectiveness without commitment?

A trial period allows you to test the app’s effectiveness and integration with your team, ensuring it meets your needs before making a long-term commitment.

How Do We Integrate the App We Ultimately Choose?

The next phase is to integrate the wellness app within the culture. This requires applying four change management principles to ensure the app becomes an integral part of daily operations rather than a disconnected tool:

Develop a pre-launch strategy.

To ensure a smooth rollout, start by engaging key collaborators such as learning and development teams, mental health or wellness champions, and leader sponsors. These individuals can serve as early adopters or a standing working group, offering a well-rounded perspective on the needs and challenges they face around well-being and mental health. Their involvement also creates early buy-in.

Once your collaborators are on board, establish a pilot testing phase. Have the group use the app for two to three weeks to evaluate which features are most relevant and beneficial. During this phase, it’s important to decide which app features align with the organization’s immediate goals (e.g., leadership development or employee engagement) and which ones employees can explore independently (e.g., stress management or sleep improvement tools).

Next, develop an implementation plan that highlights key features and benefits over specific timeframes. At one of the organizations I worked with, we launched an app in January, targeting mental health concerns tied to seasonal shifts, such as loneliness and post-holiday engagement challenges. Rather than overwhelming employees with every feature at once, we focused on two or three relevant courses. Leaders and wellness champions were aligned in promoting these resources, ensuring consistency and effective engagement across the organization.

Craft communications and messaging.

After the working group has provided feedback and your implementation plan takes shape, the next step is crafting a targeted communications strategy. Most wellness apps offer customer success support, including launch templates and messaging guides. While these can be helpful, it’s crucial not to rely on them on their own. Use your working group’s insights and your organization’s cultural nuances to customize the communication strategy. Tailoring the messaging ensures that it effectively resonates with your employees to maximize impact.

When launching the app, it is essential to leverage the most effective communication channels within your organization (e.g., intranet, newsletter, or mass emails). Employees should know how to access the app, including login instructions, and understand how the app aligns with their mental health needs.

Be intentional in outlining the key benefits of the app at every touchpoint, especially for those who may hesitate to engage due to internalized stigma around mental health. Highlight the app’s confidential nature and emphasize how specific features — such as burnout prevention tools — can benefit employees. Leaders and other employees in the pilot group should also be involved in messaging, demonstrating their own adoption of the app to normalize its use across the organization.

Augment the app with leadership training.

Many wellness apps offer modules tailored to managers and leaders, equipping them with the tools to address issues like burnout, stress, and stigma. However, expecting leaders to absorb these lessons independently through videos and translate them into actionable insights for their teams is unrealistic.

A more effective approach is to use online modules as a starting point or pre-work for live workshops. In my client engagements, I tailor these workshops to incorporate on-demand learning modules with interactive elements, such as role-play exercises where leaders practice recognizing behavioral changes in employees or engaging in vulnerable storytelling. By leveraging the key resources from the modules, I present the material in a way that feels more accessible and manageable for leaders. Additionally, summarizing key takeaways not only enhances app utilization but also establishes clear accountability parameters to ensure sustained impact.

Aim to conduct three to four live workshops annually. This cadence ensures that support remains consistent, responsive, and personalized.

Be agile.

An agile methodology or something similarly iterative, is essential for a successful long-term adoption of an app. Establish regular check-ins with your working group and leadership teams to gather feedback on how the app is being utilized and identify any challenges. These insights will allow you to quickly adapt your strategy to meet evolving needs. For example, if organizational changes are leading to increased burnout, you can focus on promoting specific features that address stress management and encourage leaders to do the same.

It’s also important to actively listen to employee feedback about the app’s usability and relevance. No app is perfect, and employees may encounter difficulties in using it. What matters most is how you respond to that feedback and create customized solutions to meet their needs. This may involve adding supplementary resources, adjusting communication strategies, or working with the vendor to address specific challenges.

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Adopting a mental health and wellness app in your organization cannot be a standalone solution. But by fostering trust, engagement, and the ability to act on continuous feedback, organizations can begin to realize the benefits of their investments in these digital tools while addressing the root causes of workplace stressors.

Copyright 2025 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate.

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