The approach of Indian employees towards workplace mental health is undergoing a shift, and workers are no longer quietly ignoring counselling benefits tucked away in HR portals. A new report by digital health benefits platform ekincare shows that mental wellness usage across corporate India has surged 44 per cent since 2023, with younger employees increasingly treating therapy as a normal part of healthcare rather than a last resort.
The report, titled From Silence to Signal: India Inc.’s Mental Wellness Reckoning (2023–2026), analysed over 6,000 counselling sessions booked across ekincare’s corporate client base between 2023 and 2026.
The report also highlights a troubling contradiction. Even as more employees seek help, more than one in four people who book a counselling session never attend it. The findings suggest that awareness alone is no longer the biggest hurdle and that psychological safety at workplaces may be the real challenge.
Workplace therapy is becoming mainstream
For years, employee assistance programmes in India struggled with low engagement because many workers either did not know these services existed or hesitated to use them. That trend appears to be changing rapidly.
According to the report, counselling sessions rose sharply between 2023 and 2025, while 2026 is already on track to match or exceed last year’s numbers.
Key findings from the report include:
- Mental wellness utilisation rose 44 per cent since 2023
- Employees aged 20–25 recorded 203 per cent growth in counselling usage
- Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) saw the sharpest sectoral increase at 408 per cent
- Healthcare and pharma recorded 122 per cent growth
- 26.6 per cent of employees who booked sessions never attended them
Gen Z is leading the shift
The report points to a strong generational divide in attitudes towards therapy. Among employees aged 20-25, counselling sessions rose 203 per cent between 2023 and 2025. In comparison, the 26-30 age group saw a 27 per cent increase, while the 31-35 group recorded just 18 per cent growth.
Data also showed that employees above the age of 35 carry the highest clinical burden. Around 44 per cent of sessions in this age group were linked to anxiety, depression or mood-related concerns.
The report further noted that mental health concerns evolve with different life stages:
- Employees aged 20–25 mainly reported anxiety and self-doubt
- Workers in their late 20s increasingly struggled with identity and relationships
- Employees aged 31–35 faced family and caregiving pressure
- Those above 35 showed the highest levels of clinical anxiety and depression
One in four employees never attends therapy sessions
Perhaps the most concerning finding in the report is the high drop-off rate between booking and attending counselling sessions.
According to the study, 26.6 per cent of employees who booked appointments never showed up. First-time users were especially likely to skip sessions, while phone consultations recorded higher no-show rates than video sessions.
Commenting on the findings, Dr Noel Coutinho, co-founder of ekincare, said the issue is no longer about convincing employees to use counselling programmes.
“The challenge is readiness. Are our systems equipped for the scale, complexity, and clinical depth of the demand that is emerging?” he said.
The report found that 58 per cent of employees attended only one counselling session and did not return. While a single session may be enough for lower-level concerns such as workplace conflicts or temporary self-doubt, experts behind the report noted that more serious mental health issues often require continued support.
The report said that companies now need to move beyond generic wellness programmes and build mental health systems that employees genuinely feel safe using.
High-pressure sectors are seeing the biggest surge
Among industries, the BFSI sector recorded the sharpest increase in counselling usage at 408 per cent, which researchers linked to high-pressure work environments, regulatory stress and demanding client-facing roles.
Healthcare and pharma also saw significant growth at 122 per cent, suggesting that burnout among medical professionals and healthcare workers is becoming increasingly visible.
Meanwhile, IT and software, which historically led workplace wellness adoption, saw relatively modest growth of 11 per cent.
The ‘articulation gap’ in mental health
One of the report’s most striking observations is the ‘articulation gap’ in how men and women describe mental health struggles.
Although men were found to be more clinically represented in anxiety and depression than women, they often described their struggles using vague or indirect terms.
The report found that 25 per cent of counselling sessions among women were linked to relationships and intimacy, which was nearly double the rate seen among men.
Among men, sessions were more commonly linked to “self-identity and growth”, with “personal issue” emerging as the most frequently used description. Around 62 per cent of such cases were filed by men.
The report warned that many workplace mental health systems still rely heavily on self-reported categories, which may fail to capture the real nature of employee struggles.