An established global EAP with broad assistance — counselling, legal and financial support — at a low per-employee price that's easy to approve.
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.
Whole-organisation systemCare · intelligence · executionICAS
Traditional EAPsIndependent comparisonIt'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.
What your people
actually get.
Evaluating ICAS alongside October? Look at the day-to-day programme: anonymous live sessions across 20+ hours daily, ongoing workforce measurement and practical action planning for HR, connected to your EAP.
Offered See detailsAvailability and session allowances depend on your package and location, for both providers.
Swipe across the table to compare both providers.
| Feature or service | OctoberWhat you get — and why it matters | ICAS |
|---|---|---|
| For employeesEveryday tools, personal insight and access to support. | ||
| On-demand content | Build skills people use at workShort courses on focus, leadership and resilience, plus articles, audiobooks and session recordings. Why it mattersGive employees practical steps they can apply the same day. | Hub library: articles, videos and resources |
| Wellbeing assessments | A personal picture that keeps updatingQuarterly ThriveMeter, clinical screening and monthly personal wellbeing insights. Why it mattersEmployees can follow their progress; HR sees aggregate trends without individual answers. | Hub wellness assessment and questionnaires |
| Live group sessions | 20+ hours of live sessions every dayExpert-led, anonymous audio sessions, with recordings and podcasts to revisit. Why it mattersPeople on different shifts can join, listen or ask a question without going on camera. | Growth webinars and group trauma support |
| One-to-one counselling | Keep your EAP. Make it easier to reach.Connect your existing EAP inside October, or use October’s virtual or in-person EAP services. Why it mattersGive employees one entry point for everyday support and professional care. | Phone, virtual and face-to-face counselling |
| Coaching and personal support | Support between appointmentsAsh AI coaching with goal check-ins, practical courses and private Clara AI voice support. Why it mattersEmployees can work on goals in the moment; clinical needs route to human care. Clara allowances vary by plan. | Wellbeing and financial coaching |
| For HR teamsTools to understand needs, support managers and engage people. | ||
| Manager development | Turn 360 feedback into a development pathwayLeadership 360 assessments, personalised pathways, coaching content and reassessment. Why it mattersGive each leader a clear next step and a way to measure their development. | Manager referrals and learning programmes |
| Workforce surveys and pulse | A weekly pulse. A quarterly baseline.Weekly check-ins, quarterly ThriveMeter and company surveys in the employee app. Why it mattersTrack how teams are doing between formal reviews and follow up after interventions. | Confirm custom workforce survey options |
| HR dashboard and insights | See where to focus and what to doTeam, tenure and location trends, industry benchmarks and AI-drafted action plans. Why it mattersHR gets proposed interventions and owners, reviewed monthly with a customer success manager. | Confirm employer reporting and segmentation |
| Employee engagement support | A company hub with a monthly programmeCompany-branded hub, private expert sessions, challenges and a monthly planning cadence. Why it mattersHR has a place to reach employees and support to keep the programme active. | Onboarding support and platform demos |
| For the businessEvidence to guide investment and support to act on it. | ||
| Measurement and action plans | Connect each action to a follow-up measureAction plans with named owners, baseline measures and follow-up, reviewed monthly. Why it mattersLeaders can see what was done and whether wellbeing measures moved afterwards. | Confirm outcome measures in your proposal |
| Hands-on organisational support | Experts who help carry out the planOctober Advisory can scope and deliver the interventions identified through workforce insights. Why it mattersAdd implementation capacity when your HR team needs help delivering change. Separately scoped. | Onsite counselling; confirm consulting scope |
Based on public provider descriptions reviewed 9 September 2026. “Confirm” means the scope is not established by the linked sources. For ICAS, this table uses the current Lyra Southern Africa service offering. Regional programmes may differ.
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.
See October in contextQuestions,
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.
Start with your organisation
Compare October with ICAS.
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