New AI-Powered Guide Improves Absence Management Experience
CHICAGO – Nov. 05, 2026 – ComPsych® Corporation, the worldwide leader in organizational behavioral health, well-being, and absence management, today announced a new AI-powered guide “Ava” built to improve the absence management and accommodation experience for employees. Built directly within the AbsenceResources web and mobile digital experience, the new guide is available 24/7 to meet employees where they are, simplifying the often overwhelming experience of leave and accommodation navigation for individuals, which also relieves a burden on HR teams.
“With more than 25 years of experience in absence management, we know that leave and accommodation are some of the most challenging areas for employees to navigate,” explained Lucy Turowicz, Senior Vice President of Absence Operations at ComPsych. “At ComPsych we believe every leave or accommodation event represents a possible life changing moment for the employees we serve. People are often using our services at times of high stress, and the ability to communicate with us in a way that is most comfortable with them is critical. With the introduction of Ava, we’re offering organizations a smarter, more connected experience for their employees that simultaneously streamlines workflows while prioritizing real-time guidance and assistance for the whole person during crucial moments in their lives.”
Combining Human Expertise with AI
Employees are taking more leave than ever. More than half of employers reported an increase in leave requests last year, and ComPsych data shows that mental health-related leaves have more than tripled over the past six years. Supporting employees in these vulnerable moments can be time-consuming and carries a high risk of administrative friction. Meeting the needs of those employees demand requires deep absence expertise applied consistently, at scale, and in the moment an employee needs it.
Ava combines ComPsych’s 25 years of human expertise in absence management with cutting edge technology to ease these common pain points, acting as an additional channel – not a replacement of other communication channels. Now, users will have the guide to help manage their absence in addition to a 24/7 web and mobile app and a contact center staffed by live absence specialists. Trained exclusively on ComPsych’s proprietary content and expert-developed resources and with guardrails in place to ensure responsible use of AI, Ava improves the overall experience for employees and HR teams in the following ways:
- Instant Answers: Available 24/7, Ava answers questions instantly on topics including leave or ADA policy, eligibility, and processes, in plain language providing employees with clarity quickly and efficiently.
- Task Completion: Most common tasks within leave management and accommodation workflows including submitting claims, uploading documentation, checking leave status, and return-to-work reporting, are handled end-to-end, providing a streamlined experience.
- Whole Person Support: Leaves and accommodations often come at life-changing moments for employees, and we view this as an opportunity to offer support and resources. Unique to ComPsych given its robust behavioral health offerings, the new guide provides whole person support by surfacing behavioral health and well-being resources at relevant moments in the absence journey. This includes connecting employees to live peer-to-peer support groups, group learning sessions, and other supportive resources.
- Seamless Escalation When Needed: Understanding its own limitations, Ava recognizes complex cases, collects all relevant context, and routes queries to a live, human absence specialist to assist with full background provided.
Integrated across the entire AbsenceResources platform, Ava also enables our expert human agents to provide a better, more personalized service by capturing data in real-time from employees to keep all records synchronized and allowing agents to more quickly access what they need as they focus on increasingly complex leave or accommodation requests.
ComPsych will begin deploying Ava to begin delivering a better end-to-end experience for members in the fourth quarter of 2026. For more information about how ComPsych is responsibly combining AI with decades of human expertise, please visit here.
About ComPsych
ComPsych® is the worldwide leader in organizational mental health, well-being, and absence management, dedicated to igniting human potential in workplaces across the globe. For over 40 years, we have combined the best in technology with unmatched human expertise to help individuals and their organizations thrive. Our GuidanceResources® and AbsenceResources® solutions deliver end-to-end mental health, well-being, work-life, health navigation, and absence support to more than 75,000 customers worldwide, touching more than 160 million lives across 200 countries. Visit compsych.com to find out why 40% of the Fortune 500 choose ComPsych for their mental health and absence management needs.