At a glance:
- Utilisation is a starting point, not proof of impact. It shows people are using support, not whether that support made a difference.
- Measure EAPs and modern alternatives on outcomes. Turnover, unplanned absence, claims and manager time are where the value of support shows up.
- Early intervention is delivering measurable results. Best&Less employees who engage with Sonder show 6% lower turnover than those who don’t, and the business has saved roughly $1.1 million.
- You can estimate your own ROI in minutes. Sonder’s free ROI estimator models the value of lower turnover, fewer absences and recovered manager time.
You can measure the ROI of an employee assistance program (EAP), or a modern alternative like Sonder, by tracking the outcomes this support influences, such as turnover, unplanned absence, claims and manager time, alongside utilisation. Because while utilisation tells you how many people use a service, outcomes tell you whether it made a difference.
Not all support is built the same way. Traditional EAPs were designed around counselling, so utilisation became the default measure of success. Modern alternatives like Sonder offer everything you expect from an EAP, and more: 24/7 mental health, medical and safety support in one app, plus reporting that helps you see risk earlier. They should be measured on what they change, not just how often they’re used.
That difference matters more than ever. Boards, investors and regulators are asking harder questions of people risk investments: is support reducing harm, lowering claims and improving retention?
In this blog, we share how to measure the ROI of EAPs and modern alternatives, the wellbeing program KPIs worth tracking and what employers have achieved by intervening earlier.
How do you measure EAP ROI?
You measure EAP ROI, or the ROI of a modern alternative, by comparing the cost of support with the value of the outcomes it influences.
Most employers can do this in five steps:
- Set your baseline. Record activation (how many eligible people have signed up) and utilisation (how many of them use the service), so you know whether support is reaching people.
- Track leading indicators. Watch for early signs of pressure, such as wellbeing assessment results, screening trends and the psychosocial hazard themes coming through support.
- Link support to business outcomes. Compare turnover, unplanned absence, workers’ compensation claims and manager time over time, using your own HR and WHS data.
- Put a dollar value on the change. Translate those shifts into avoided costs, such as recruitment, lost productivity and claims.
- Report back and review. Share results with leaders regularly and adjust your program based on what the data shows.
The business case for this work is well established. PwC’s return on investment analysis found that organisations taking action to create a mentally healthy workplace “can expect a positive return on investment (ROI) of at least 2.3”.
Which wellbeing program KPIs should you track?
The wellbeing program KPIs worth tracking fall into two groups: direct financial outcomes, and indirect outcomes that tend to affect financial results over time.
| Direct financial outcomes | Indirect outcomes |
| Reduced absenteeism | Improved health and wellbeing |
| Reduced presenteeism | Stronger morale and motivation |
| Fewer payments for substitute workers | Higher employee engagement |
| Increased productivity | Better quality of individual and team output |
| Fewer and less costly workers’ compensation claims | Stronger employer brand |
| Lower turnover | Greater loyalty |
| Less manager and colleague time spent supporting people with poor wellbeing | Stronger organisational resilience |
| Improved return-to-work rates and lost time injury frequency rates (LTIFR) |
Utilisation and engagement still matter, but as inputs. They tell you whether people can reach support. The KPIs above tell you what that support changed.
What’s the difference between ROI and ROV?
ROI measures the financial return on a wellbeing program. Return on value (ROV) is broader: it counts direct financial benefits and the indirect benefits, like engagement and morale, that tend to influence financial results later.
Many HR and finance teams now use both. ROI builds the business case, and ROV gives a fuller picture of how a program is tracking.
What ROI have employers seen from early intervention?
Employers that invest in Sonder intervene earlier and are seeing results in retention, absence and engagement.
Best&Less
At Best&Less, a retail chain of around 3,800 employees across roughly 200 stores, employees who engage with Sonder show a 6% lower turnover rate than those who don’t. Engagement scores have also risen by 8%.
These improvements have resulted in approximately $1.1 million in savings to the company’s bottom line. The average team member engages with Sonder 10 times a month, for mental health, medical and safety support.
We view Sonder’s safety features as integral to our ongoing risk mitigation strategy.
WHS and Injury Manager at Best&Less
HOYTS
HOYTS paired 24/7 Sonder support with a values-led refresh of its employee value proposition (EVP). Together, these changes helped deliver a 15% decrease in frontline staff turnover over three years.
Across the business, turnover fell 16% in 18 months, and first-year turnover dropped 28% in 12 months.
We’ve seen about a 15% change in turnover over the last three years, which is huge in terms of our frontline employees.
Chief People Officer at HOYTS
Schools UK
Schools UK, which provides staff absence insurance to schools, academies and trusts in the UK, embedded Sonder into its offering in 2024. After one year, with more than 1,000 members activated:
- 60% of users confirm their interaction directly prevented an absence
- 88% credit the service with helping them avoid potential time off
- 56% say they would not have sought help if Sonder hadn’t been available
We have found working with Sonder to be great; their staff are always available and go above and beyond to help.
Head of Wellbeing at Schools UK
Southeastern
At Southeastern, one of the UK’s busiest rail operators, a single absent driver could result in up to five cancelled trains. Within two months of launching Sonder, 20% of its workforce of around 4,500 had engaged with the service, far above the 2–5% average for traditional EAPs.
In one case, an employee with a minor head injury got fast care and safely returned to work after one day.
Sonder gives our teams fast, trusted access to care, whether it’s health-related, emotional, or promoting personal safety.
Head of HR Shared Services at Southeastern
How do modern alternatives compare with traditional EAPs?
Modern alternatives go further than traditional EAPs by covering more of what affects people’s health, safety and wellbeing, and by giving employers the data to act earlier. The table below shows how a traditional EAP typically compares with Sonder.
| Support | Traditional EAP | Sonder |
| Counselling and mental health pathways | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| 24/7 immediate access to live support | Not typically | ✅ Yes |
| Medical advice and injury management | Not typically | ✅ Yes |
| Personal safety tools | Not typically | ✅ Yes |
| In-person critical incident support | Not typically | ✅ Yes |
| Self-help library | Not typically | ✅ Yes |
| Wellbeing data and reporting | Not typically | ✅ Yes |
| Activation support for employees | Not typically | ✅ Yes |
What can employers track in the Sonder Portal today?
The Sonder Portal gives you the data to help track ROI, with aggregated, de-identified reporting across mental health, medical and safety support in one place, with trends you can filter by division and time period.
| Reporting area | What’s tracked | Why it matters |
| Overview | Headline indicators: are our people okay, are they safe and are they engaging with Sonder? | Gives leaders a fast pulse check on where to focus. |
| Wellbeing | Results from Sonder’s in-app Wellbeing Assessment and DASS-21 screening for depression, anxiety and stress | Shows where pressure is building before it becomes an absence, a claim or an exit. |
| Psychosocial hazards | Hazard themes surfaced through support interactions, by division and time period | Helps identify emerging hazards to inform your psychosocial risk management. |
| Safety | Use of safety tools such as Check on Me and Track My Journey | Shows how safety support is being used in practice. |
| Engagement | Eligibility, activation and utilisation, plus engagement with self-help and educational content | Shows whether support is reaching the people who need it. |
All reporting is aggregated and de-identified. Small groups are combined into an anonymised category, so no individual can be singled out.
Is EAP utilisation a good measure of success?
EAP utilisation is a useful starting point, but on its own it doesn’t show whether support improved wellbeing or business outcomes. High utilisation tells you people know support exists and trust it enough to use it.
Traditional EAPs average around 5% utilisation, according to research including IBISWorld and the Productivity Commission (see our breakdown of average EAP utilisation rates).
By comparison, around 40% of Sonder members typically activate, meaning they’ve downloaded the app and registered, so they’re set up before they need support. When recruitment specialist Hays moved to Sonder, 34% of its UK&I employees activated the service within eight weeks, a six-fold uplift on its previous wellbeing offering. Activation and utilisation aren’t the same measure, but both show whether support is reaching people. Higher usage creates more chances to help, but it still needs to be backed by outcomes.
EAP data tells you who reached out after something had already gone wrong. It’s a lag indicator of harm, not a lead indicator of risk.
Co-Founder, Humn
How can you estimate the ROI of your wellbeing program?
You can estimate the ROI of your wellbeing program with Sonder’s free ROI estimator. It shows the annual value of lower turnover, fewer unplanned absences and less manager time spent on people issues.
The estimator looks at two areas:
- Turnover and absence costs: enter figures like total headcount and annual staff turnover, which have the biggest effect on avoidable people costs.
- Manager time recovered: estimate how much leadership time could move from reactive people issues to coaching, performance and day-to-day operations.
You’ll get a total annual ROI estimate, plus a business case to download and share with stakeholders.
Ready to estimate the ROI of proactive workforce care? Calculate your ROI now.
See what outcomes-led support could look like for your team
Utilisation is only the starting point. Proving the value of care that starts before crisis means knowing which outcomes to track and connecting support to them.
Sonder is a people risk intelligence and prevention platform. It offers everything you’d expect from an EAP, and more, helping organisations detect risk earlier, intervene faster and reduce harm before it escalates.
If you’re reviewing your EAP or coming up to renewal, our free guide will help you compare your options and plan a smooth switch.
Download the guide to comparing EAP providers, and EAP alternatives.
FAQs
EAP ROI is the return an employer gets from its employee assistance program (EAP), or a modern alternative, compared with what it costs. It’s best measured through outcomes such as lower turnover, fewer unplanned absences, reduced claims and less manager time spent on people issues, rather than through utilisation alone.
EAP utilisation measures how many people use a service, such as calling, booking a session or opening an app. EAP outcomes measure whether that support changed anything, from someone’s wellbeing to business results like turnover, absence and claims. Utilisation shows people know help is there. Outcomes show whether it worked.
A good EAP utilisation rate is well above the average of around 5% for traditional EAPs, based on research including IBISWorld and the Productivity Commission. Higher utilisation shows people know support exists and trust it. But it’s a starting point, and employers increasingly want evidence that support improves outcomes.
The ROI employers can expect from early intervention depends on their workforce and risks, but real results offer a benchmark. At Best&Less, employees who engage with Sonder show 6% lower turnover than those who don’t, and the business has saved roughly $1.1 million. Sonder’s ROI estimator models potential value for your organisation.
Sonder is different from a traditional EAP because it goes beyond counselling. It offers 24/7 mental health, medical and safety support in one app, including personal safety tools, critical incident response and de-identified reporting. Traditional EAPs typically focus on counselling and are measured mainly by how often they’re used.
Outcome data is measured without breaching privacy by aggregating and de-identifying it before it reaches an employer. At Sonder, small groups are combined so no individual can be singled out. The aim is to show patterns across a workforce, such as where pressure is building, not to monitor any one person.
