Dive Brief:
- More employers are looking for ways to help workers cope with major depression, WTOP reports. According to marketing research firm, Ipsos, 75% of workers with depression keep their diagnoses from their employers for fear of losing their jobs.
- More managers are now encouraging workers suffering from depression to take time off, engage in relaxing activities and to focus on getting treatment, says WTOP, citing a Wall Street Journal report.
- WTOP also noted that a 2015 study by the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found that major depressive disorder cost employers $78 billion in lost productivity in 2010, the result of people struggling with the impairment at work.
Dive Insight:
Mental illness has long carried a stigma at work but that viewpoint is changing.
Employers are finding ways to help workers cope not only with stress and burnout, but also depression. Employee wellness programs have expanded to include emotional well-being components, which target all of those issues. The focus on behavioral health as part of workers' overall health has generated significant ROI for employers.
Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) have provided mental health counseling for workers for decades, and remains one piece of the puzzle. Employers are also encouraging over-worked employees to take their allotted vacation days, use more paid time off and limit 24/7 connection with the workplace to de-stress and prevent burnout.