ICAS answers the call. October changes the organisation.
ICAS is an established global EAP — broad assistance across counselling, legal and financial, available cheaply per employee. October Health is something different: clinically effective care the whole workforce actually uses, prioritised intelligence that tells leaders what to act on next, and embedded experts who execute the change. A phone line waits for a crisis. October drives measurable outcomes — burnout, retention, eNPS, performance — across every team.
An established global EAP with broad assistance — counselling, legal and financial support — at a low per-employee price that's easy to approve.
It's the classic low single-digit utilisation, phone-first and generic. It produces little usable signal for leaders and no execution layer driving org-wide change.
Software plus embedded experts across the entire organisation — 65% utilisation, prioritised insight on what to act on, and people who execute the change. Care and org-change in one measurable system.
- Scope
- The whole organisation — every team, every shift.
- The few who call the helpline.
- Model
- Software and embedded experts, working as one.
- Phone-first counselling plus legal and financial assistance.
- Adoption
- 65% utilisation — 10× the legacy EAP.
- Classic low single-digit utilisation.
- Insight
- Prioritised — what's driving risk and what to do next.
- Generic usage reports with little usable signal.
- Action
- Experts who execute the org-wide change.
- No org-change execution; support is reactive.
- Pricing
- Predictable platform pricing with a costed ROI.
- Low PEPM — but you pay for reach you don't get.
- Outcome
- Measurable change in burnout, retention and performance.
- A tick-the-box benefit, hard to measure.
The whole organisation — every team, every shift.
The few who call the helpline.
Software and embedded experts, working as one.
Phone-first counselling plus legal and financial assistance.
65% utilisation — 10× the legacy EAP.
Classic low single-digit utilisation.
Prioritised — what's driving risk and what to do next.
Generic usage reports with little usable signal.
Experts who execute the org-wide change.
No org-change execution; support is reactive.
Predictable platform pricing with a costed ROI.
Low PEPM — but you pay for reach you don't get.
Measurable change in burnout, retention and performance.
A tick-the-box benefit, hard to measure.
Outcomes you can point to.
A high-pressure call centre swung eNPS 24 points from negative to positive — the kind of frontline shift a phone-first EAP almost never delivers.
Organisations that need a low-cost, box-ticking assistance line covering counselling, legal and financial — and don't expect to measure or act on the results.
Leaders who want real reach and change — high utilisation, prioritised insight, clinically effective care, and experts who drive measurable outcomes across every team.
Questions, answered.
Is October Health an alternative to ICAS?+
Yes. ICAS is a traditional global EAP — a broad, low-cost assistance line. October delivers clinically effective care the whole workforce uses, plus prioritised insight and embedded experts who drive measurable change — reach and outcomes a phone-first EAP can't match.
How does utilisation compare?+
Traditional EAPs like ICAS typically see low single-digit utilisation. October sees around 65% — roughly 10× — because the platform is built for everyday use across every team rather than waiting for someone to call in a crisis.
We already pay very little for ICAS — why switch?+
A low per-employee fee looks cheap, but if only a few percent ever use it you're paying for reach you don't get. October uses predictable platform pricing with a costed ROI, tied to measurable change in burnout, retention and eNPS.
What about the legal and financial assistance ICAS offers?+
October focuses on clinically effective mental-health care and org-wide change rather than broad legal and financial lines. The trade-off is depth and reach where it moves outcomes — high utilisation, prioritised insight and embedded execution.
Will leaders actually get usable insight?+
Yes. Where ICAS reports generic usage, October gives prioritised insight — what's driving risk and what to do next — and embedded experts who execute the change, so the data turns into measurable action.
Score your own programme.
Two minutes, benchmarked — and a costed PDF of what the gap is worth. See where you stand before you switch.
The fair test: a walkthrough.
Book a demo and see how October compares to ICAS on the metrics that matter — utilisation, insight and measurable outcomes.