Employee Depression: The Hidden Crisis of Workplace

Introduction:

Depression among the employed has been linked with both absenteeism and diminished productivity. The cost of productivity losses in the form of short-term disability days due to depression was estimated to be considerably high in various studies done worldwide. Studies done in the United States estimated to cost between $36.6 and $51.5 billion annually in lost productivity.

Employee Depression:

Employee depression and a poor work environment are a two-way street. An employee who’s experiencing depression may have a hard time performing their job. Their low mood could also impact the overall work environment. It is observed that depressed employees exhibit more job loss, premature retirement, on-the-job functional limitations, and absences compared with their nondepressed coworkers.

 In employees with depression, adverse work outcomes have been associated with higher depression symptom severity, the presence of specific symptoms (e.g., difficulty concentrating), and poorer-quality depression care. On the other hand, a poor working environment, such as one with high stress, long hours, low recognition, or bullying, can lead to workplace depression. Depression in the workplace can lead to a variety of negative results for a business due to high employee turnover, poor productivity, high absenteeism, low engagement, and poor company morale.

Depression and Employment:

Employees who reported high levels of work stress were more likely to have reported depression in the last 12 months than workers who had lower levels of work stress. Depression in employees was also found to be associated with several job-related characteristics, including occupation and shift work. Various studies done on this subject have some notable findings:

• Occupational Depression Disparity: Sales and service workers and those in white-collar jobs were more likely than blue-collar workers to have faced depression. 
• Shift Work Depression: Regular evening and night shift workers were more likely to report a major depressive episode than those working a regular day schedule. 
• Work Hours and Depression: The prevalence of depression was relatively low among workers who spent more than 40 hours a week on the job compared with those who worked less than 30 hours. 
• Stress and Support Dynamics: From the perspective of demand-control-support framework, job involving high psychologic demands will be harmful to health, whereas job involving control and/or social support will be protective. Psychologically demanding work is hectic and involves features such as a heavy workload, intense concentration, and exposure to conflicting demands. 

Helping an Employee with Depression:

Once an employee is noticed to be showing signs of depression, an intervention can be planned, keeping the following points in mind:

• Focused Private Dialogue: A conversation can be initiated with a special focus on the approach, and talk can be done in a private setting. 
• Performance-Focused Dialogue: The conversation can be started with a focus on performance issues and then can slowly extend to the other difficulties that the employee is facing along with the changes in the emotions and behavior that the employee had observed in himself along with the ones reported by family and friends. 
• Empathy: Compassion should be shown throughout, and let the employee know you care and that they are valued. 
• Supportive Accommodations: Without giving much advice, the employee can be supported by offering options like a flexible work time schedule, simple work scope, and sharing fewer short-term deadlines. 
• Job Security: Dispelling the fear of being fired is an important component of support. 
• Mental Health Support: The employee must be offered well-publicized mental health support or should be encouraged to get help from mental health professionals.

Dealing with Employee Depression:

Despite the enormous and growing toll due to depression among employees, most employers find it difficult to handle it, in spite of their willingness to reduce the burden of employee depression in the workplace.

The following strategies have been shown to be effective for dealing with employee depression in the workplace: 

• Awareness and Recognition: Learning about depression and how it will present in employees must be the first step as it will help in recognizing such employees and in management of the same. Employees may present with loss of interest, decreased energy, feelings of low self-esteem or control, disturbed sleep, and poor concentration.
• Supportive Workculture: An employer should display meaningful empathy on a regular basis. It is important that employees feel that the employer is rooting for their success rather than someone who will punish them for having problems. For instance, if an employee is having trouble with a sick child, a more flexible schedule can be offered. 
• Recognition: Acknowledging and rewarding employees for good work helps in handling the burnout. These can mean bonuses, a salary increases, or a promotion, or symbolic awards such as a thank you, a certificate, or public recognition.
• Wellness Program: A healthy lifestyle which can include health insurance, weekly meditation classes, providing a gym membership, paying attention to number of work hours and giving opportunities for workers to get to know each other.
• Safe workspace: Providing work autonomy and a safe, bully-free atmosphere is one of the measures for dealing with employee depression.

Conclusion:

Depression rates in the employees may be similar to those in the general population, but their socio-economic impact is much greater. Employees are exposed to differing stressors and risk factors, which make them susceptible to depression. Multiple factors like sex, age, family history, the nature of the work, interpersonal dynamics, as well as the amount of support received in the workplace can determine the susceptibility to stress and consequent depression. 

Employee depression has consequences of reduced employee satisfaction, poor overall physical and mental health, absenteeism, and presenteeism, all of which can lead to impairment of worker productivity that may, in turn, cause huge losses to the organisation and the economy. In order to avoid this, regular assessment of common mental health issues is imperative. Assessment tools can be used, singularly or in combination, to screen regularly for depression and stress in employees, and if the employees are found positive, they should be given proper support and management.

References:

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