Case Study: Henkel

Starting point

Henkel employs around 800 people in Austria, spread across four locations between Vienna and Vorarlberg. The workforce is mixed: office and production, day shifts and rotating shifts. This creates three challenges that not every workplace health program can solve:

• Reaching production workers. The intranet and email don’t reach production staff. A one-hour break for a health program means the entire line stops.
• Lowering the barrier. Employees often wait too long, until a problem has grown too big to manage.
• Embedding mental health. A program that isn’t embedded in the organization rarely gets accepted

The company

Henkel Central Eastern Europe GmbH: approx. 800 employees in Austria

Locations: 4 in Vienna and Vorarlberg

Industry: FMCG, adhesives (Industrial and Consumer Goods)

Partnership with Mavie Work: Mavie EAP for 20 years, Mavie Fit15

The solution

Mavie EAP as a Low-Barrier Entry Point

At the core of the partnership is the Mavie Employee Assistance Program: anonymous, free, and non-binding, for work-related and personal topics alike. Henkel deliberately promotes even minor reasons to use EAP counseling on the Employee Hub (intranet), to lower the barrier to entry: preparing for a difficult conversation with a manager, exam anxiety, a vocational graduation exam. Not every concern needs to be a crisis to be worth a call to Mavie

At the heart of it is the option, whatever the topic, for employees to reach someone at no cost and with no strings attached.

Tina Thallinger, Head of HR Austria, Henkel

Implementation

One offering is not enough. Henkel embeds Mavie EAP through three parallel levers in the organization:

1. Reaching Everyone: Office and Production

Office: Intranet, newsletter, town halls.

Production: The works council is the most important channel. Dedicated works council members are natural points of trust. Flyers, cards, and posters in break rooms add to this.

When a full hour isn’t possible, the format gets shorter: 4 x 15 minutes instead of one hour, integrated into town halls and off-sites that are already happening.

2. Managers as Active Role Models

Health is part of the leadership event series. Mavie regularly joins as an external speaker. Coaching skills are trained in leadership development.

Managers should be attuned enough to their team to be the first to notice when someone’s balance is at risk.

Tina Thallinger, Head of HR Austria, Henkel

3. Multipliers in Every Team

The internal Mental Health Scout Program trains employees to serve as contacts for health topics. Target: at least one scout per 50 employees.

Scouts spot early when someone needs support and know the way to Mavie. Supporting this: Kudos Cards and Feedback for Growth reinforce trust in everyday work.

Recently Introduced: Mavie Fit15

15-minute online sessions on movement, nutrition, and mental balance. Short enough to fit into packed workdays. Henkel uses Fit15 as a complement to the counseling offering, particularly where longer formats are not realistic.

For us, Mavie Fit15 is a useful addition to the counseling offering. We also push that message internally: take a break, walk a few steps, or spend 15 minutes on something that matters to you personally.

Tina Thallinger, Head of HR Austria, Henkel

What Employees Actually Get from Mavie EAP

Tina Thallinger describes an employee going through a divorce, a difficult situation for the child involved. Two Mavie counseling sessions were enough to move things in a better direction.

What sets Mavie apart from support through friends or family is not only expertise. It is the neutrality of Mavie counselors. When someone talks to a close person about something difficult, they hold back, not wanting to burden them. With Mavie experts, those filters are unnecessary. What sounds minor is often a turning point for many people.

When there’s someone completely neutral, someone who doesn’t know you, you can actually say everything that’s weighing on you. It helps bring structure. What was overwhelming becomes manageable.

Tina Thallinger, Head of HR Austria, Henkel

That employees also use Mavie for personal topics is something Henkel explicitly reads as a positive sign. Mental health does not distinguish between private and professional. It affects performance at work. EAP counseling has room for any topic: team conflicts and management pressure as much as divorce, family crises, or anxiety about the future.

You come to work as a person, not a machine. If something is weighing on you at home, you can’t leave it at the door.

Tina Thallinger, Head of HR Austria, Henkel

The Results

How Henkel Measures Employee Health

Henkel measures on multiple levels simultaneously. No single metric decides. Together, they produce a reliable picture that is reassessed each quarter.

Results in numbers*

*Source: Mavie EAP Reporting 10/01/2024 to 09/30/2025 compared to 10/01/2025 through end of April, extrapolated to 12 months

The Key Indicator: More Personal Than Work-Related Topics

The topic distribution in the EAP is a meaningful quality indicator for Henkel as a company. When personal topics dominate, HR and leadership read this as a positive signal: no cluster of harassment reports, no systematic management conflicts, no structural pressure pushing employees to view the company negatively.

For us as a company, it’s always a good sign when the work-related share of counseling is low and the personal share is high. It means the foundation of trust is there, the work environment is sound, or there’s simply no issue that requires external support.

Tina Thallinger, Head of HR Austria, Henkel

The Pulse Check has shown a measurable positive trend in job satisfaction and sense of purpose over recent years. The topic trends in the EAP also serve as an early warning system: self-esteem was particularly present in 2025, and parenting topics are increasing. What shows up at Mavie, Henkel can address internally.

Key learnings

✅ Low barrier is key. 2 to 3 sessions resolve a topic, the result of a deliberately low entry point.

✅ Production needs its own formats. The works council is the key channel. Four 15-minute sessions replace the full hour.

✅ The right metric tells the story. Henkel reads the topic distribution, not just usage. 80% personal topics indicate that internal satisfaction levels are stable and reflect the company culture.

When employees are doing well, it affects performance. The fewer worries someone carries about personal topics, the more successful they can be at Henkel.

Tina Thallinger, Head of HR Austria, Henkel