More than eight in 10 employers offer access to an employee assistance program (EAP), but only 16 per cent of employees understand the EAP benefits available to them very well, according to Dialogue’s 2025 State of workplace well-being study. For most organizations, the instinct might be to question the benefits themselves – but that response gets the problem backwards. The real issue is whether employees understand their plan well enough to use it, and what it costs the organization when they do not.

"The cost goes so far beyond just the benefits budget," says Aman Malhi, Director of People and Culture at Refrigerative Supply Limited (RSL) in Burnaby, B.C. "It shows up in attendance, morale, engagement – and it shows up in how people show up for work."

Before writing off a benefit as irrelevant, HR teams need to understand what is actually driving low participation, she says.

"Low usage alone doesn't prove that a benefit is failing," says Malhi. "There are so many benefits that, to me at least, maybe are not being used at the level that they should be because there's a lack of awareness, a lack of access, or maybe even stigma."

Low usage doesn’t mean a benefit is failing

She points to mental health benefits as an area where this distinction carries the most weight. Canadian employee wellbeing has continued to decline, yet uptake of employer-sponsored mental health supports remains persistently low across the country, as Dialogue's 2025 State of workplace well-being found. Stigma is one driver, but poor fit and inaccessible delivery formats are just as common – and each requires a fundamentally different response.

"I see a lot of mental health benefits that aren't utilized as much because maybe there's a stigma around it, or just poor fit, or offering people something that they don't even need," she says. "And so all of those – the awareness, access, stigma, poor fit – need different solutions."

That is where a skilled HR team and a strong benefits broker make the difference, Malhi said. "Just making sure that the investment is very intentional and focused to make sure that the benefits that are being offered are actually being utilized."

People can't use benefits they don't understand

Isioma Coker, Human Resources Director at SaskTel in Regina, Saskatchewan, named the root cause plainly: open enrolment – the annual email asking employees to sign up for coverage – is designed to inform, not educate, and that distinction drives most of the participation gap.

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