Most Australian businesses are paying somewhere between $30 and $80 per employee per year for a standard EAP. That typically covers a set number of counselling sessions, access to an online support portal, and some level of manager assistance.

If you want more comprehensive coverage, think unlimited sessions, specialist referrals, or guaranteed national coverage, expect to pay closer to $100 to $200 per employee annually.

For smaller teams that's a number that can feel confronting at first glance. But put it next to the cost of a single resignation and it looks very different. Turnover, absenteeism, and lost productivity quietly drain far more from a business than most owners realise. An EAP for your whole team will almost always cost less than replacing one person.

EAP providers in Australia generally charge in one of three ways, and understanding the difference matters before you commit to anything.

A subscription model means you pay a flat annual fee per employee regardless of how much the service gets used. It makes budgeting simple, but some business owners feel like they're paying for something their team isn't actually touching.

Usage-based pricing flips that around. You only pay when an employee books a session. That can work well for smaller teams with low utilisation, but it can also lead to surprise bills during periods of high workplace stress, exactly when you least want unexpected costs.

The third option is a hybrid of the two. A lower base fee covers access and administration, with additional sessions billed as they're used. This is becoming more common and for a lot of businesses sits in a reasonable middle ground.

Which model suits you really comes down to your headcount and how much you expect your team to use the service. A larger workforce with predictable demand often benefits from a flat subscription. A smaller or newer business that's testing the water might prefer usage-based so they're not overcommitting upfront.

Every EAP will tell you they cover counselling, mental health support, and crisis assistance. And most of them do. But what that actually looks like in practice differs quite a bit depending on who you go with.

Counselling is the core of it. Employees get a set number of sessions per year and can usually choose whether they want to meet in person, hop on a call, or do a video session. That flexibility matters more than people realise, especially for staff who work remotely or in regional areas.

Crisis support tends to come standard. If something serious happens at work, whether that's a traumatic incident or a sudden personal emergency, employees shouldn't have to wait a week for an appointment. Good providers make sure same-day or next-day access is available when it's needed.

A lot of EAPs have also expanded what they offer beyond traditional therapy. Coaching for managers, online resources covering things like financial stress and sleep, and post-incident debriefs are becoming fairly common. Some providers include all of this in the base price, others treat them as add-ons, so it pays to ask specifically what's in and what's not before you sign.

One thing worth saying plainly: the session count doesn't matter much if nobody uses the program. An EAP that sits unannounced in an employee handbook helps no one. How a provider supports rollout and ongoing communication is just as important as what the package technically contains.

A few things will move your quote up or down pretty quickly.

• Headcount is the obvious one. The more employees you have, the lower your per-person cost tends to be. Providers build volume discounts in, so a team of 200 will always pay less per head than a team of 20.
• Session count matters too. Two or three sessions per employee per year sits at a different price point than six or eight. More sessions cost more, but they also mean staff can actually work through something rather than running out of appointments halfway through.

Cheapest rarely means best when it comes to EAPs. A low-cost program that employees don't trust, can't access easily, or don't feel understood by isn't really saving you anything. Low session limits, slow response times, and limited provider availability are common trade-offs that only become obvious after you've signed up.

The real value of an EAP shows up in engagement. When staff actually use the program, you see it in retention, attendance, and performance. When they don't, you've got a line item that ticks a compliance box and not much else.
So yes, price matters. But it should be weighed against how the program is delivered, how easy it is to access, and whether your workforce will actually feel comfortable using it.