Costs of employee mental health issues: obvious and hidden
Harvard Business Review has a case study entitled “Losing It” [reprint/download available here for $6.00] on a common problem: a sudden and disturbing employee mental health crisis.
Many practical and legal issues are raised by such situations. These are discussed here in the context of a hypothetical manic episode experienced by a stellar management consultant.
The four experts on the panel are: Kay Redfield Jamison, a professor of psychiatry and a co-author of Manic-Depressive Illness; David E. Meen, a former director at McKinsey & Co.; Norman Pearlstine, the editor-in-chief at Time Inc.; and Richard Primus, an assistant law professor at the University of Michigan.
Often employee mental health issues are much less obvious — when employees don’t seem to be “losing it,” but are nonetheless suffering treatable illness affecting work attendance and productivity. Such conditions can be equally problematic and costly for employers. See the next story:
BenefitNews Connect reports: “Depressed employees underuse mental health benefits”
Despite broad access to mental health benefits, depressed employees aren’t getting the help they need, according to new research from the University of Michigan Depression Center. That’s bad news for employers, who lose an estimated $52 billion each year from depression-related absenteeism and reduced productivity.
While 89% of depressed employees report having mental health coverage, 75% delay getting care and 36% receive only partial treatment, the center found. Moreover, although 65% have access to an employee assistance program, only 14% have ever used it.
Here’s more detail from the original UM press release:
Although corporate America believes it is effectively addressing depression in the workplace, only 41 percent of employees feel they can acknowledge their illness and still get ahead in their careers. . . .
“Before employees can be treated, they need to first understand that they have an illness. Implementing proactive, relatively inexpensive initiatives, such as screening, disease education and manager training, can have a tremendous impact on worker productivity and overall employee well-being,” . . .
At any given time, one in 10 employees experiences depression, costing companies $52 billion in absenteeism and reduced productivity . . . .
Once depression is treated properly, a person’s performance is indistinguishable from that of co-workers who do not have the illness. . . .
“The workplace serves as an important point of intervention. In fact, many people who have been diagnosed and treated for depression say they were driven to seek treatment by a co-worker or a boss,” . . . Read more
