Accolade, a healthcare company, helps its members untangle the complexities of health and benefits resources. The company’s health assistants and nurses are on the frontlines working with Accolade members, many of whom are in the midst of a personal or family health crisis. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, Accolade leadership knew it needed to act fast to support the mental health of its team. “We have a diverse care team, many of whom are struggling with the impact of the pandemic in their own homes, while serving others and facing compassion fatigue,” says Shantanu Nundy, chief medical officer at Accolade. “We needed to help our people on the frontlines and their families, in addition to the rest of our employees.” 

“Mental health is the goal” 

Nundy and his colleagues wanted to offer a mental healthcare service that enabled Accolae employees to access support from a live person on demand, 24/7, from their homes. As a primary care doctor, Nundy understands that physical and mental health are inextricably linked. “You shouldn’t need to justify providing mental healthcare,” he says. “Mental health is the goal.” 

At the same time that Accolade was looking for a mental healthcare service for its own employees, it was also seeking to partner with a mental health provider that it could offer to its members. Of more than 80 companies that Accolade assessed for the partnership, Headspace stood out. Accolade decided to try Headspace Care by first offering the benefit to its own employees for three key reasons: 

1. Headspace’s integrative and preventive approach to mental healthcare was essential. “Having the full suite of services—coaching, therapy, and psychiatry—right in your phone was a huge draw for us,” says Britt Provost, executive vice president of People and Culture at Accolade. “We love that you can start with coaching, and go up to therapy if you need it. Headspace is a support system that’s both functional and flexible.”
2. Accolade valued Headspace’s data-driven approach. Headspace combines care from coaches, therapists and psychiatrists with the world’s largest mental health dataset to provide high-quality, scalable care. “We use data to measure diabetes. It should be the same for depression,” says Nundy. 
3. Accolade leadership wanted a company that shared its purpose-driven, relationship-oriented, and empathetic values. They wanted curated content that they could easily share, and they wanted to be confident that the values and tone matched Accolade’s own.

“Headspace met the needs” 

The demand for immediate mental healthcare among Accolade’s employees was clear from the start. During the first week after Accolade launched Headspace Care, 15% of employees had signed up—an unprecedented rate for a new benefit rollout. And it wasn’t only Accolade employees: their dependents were signing up, too. “Headspace met the needs of different generations with different needs within families, and was accessible to everyone,” says Provost. 

Since the early success of the launch, the interest has only increased. After eight weeks, sign-ups were at 24.5%. Accolade is invested in promoting Headspace Care internally, using Headspace’s robust communications playbook to guide its own messaging about well-being to its employees. 

Positive outcomes for Accolade employees

Results show very promising trends of improvement: 

• Of those who screened positive for depression at intake and completed a follow-up survey, 75% have seen improvement after receiving coaching services, with 58% moving from a positive to a negative depression screen. 
• Similarly, 65% of Accolade members who screened positive for anxiety at intake and completed a follow-up survey saw a decrease in their anxiety levels, with 35% moving from a positive to a negative anxiety screen. 
• Early data also show a similar trend for those who receive therapy from a Headspace Care clinician: 100% of those members who screened positive for depression at intake and completed a survey have seen a decrease in their depression. 
• For anxiety, 75% of those who worked with a clinician after screening positive, and completed a follow- up survey, have seen improvement.

For a deeper dive into how Accolade used Headspace to benefit employees, managers, and members, read the full case study.