Wellbeing washing, ft. workplace mental health apps
Employers are offering digital mental health tools to build ‘more resilient’ workplaces. But many of these tools could be making misleading claims and pose serious risks to sensitive user data. And they cannot be a magic fix for deep-rooted systemic issues.
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In 2022, Suparna’s* employer, a multinational with billions of dollars in yearly profits, rolled out a personal wellness chatbot for its staff. It was meant to answer employees’ questions and nudge them to take breaks, practice breathing exercises, or drink water. The company heavily marketed the bot — but employees showed little enthusiasm for it. Much of the advice the bot gave could be easily Googled. Employees were also spooked by the lack of transparency around how it handled their personal information.
“People do not want their bosses to know about their mental health struggles,” Suparna says. “If someone asks the bot a serious mental health question and not just for tips for sleeping better, they don’t know where the data is stored or who sees it.”
Soon after this failed experiment, the company began mass layoffs. The chatbot now exists as part of a support toolkit for fired employees. “It’s like saying, ‘we know we are causing all this stress, but here’s a bot you can play with,’” Suparna says.
