Major depression impacts nearly 10% of all Americans in a given year, which translates to almost 30 million affected U.S. residents. Factoring in other forms of depression (bipolar disorder, dysthymia, etc) this figure rises to an annual rate of nearly 20% or 1 in 5 Americans. Surprising to many is that more than 70% of people diagnosed with depression are employed.

Depression is associated with a significant number of lost work days due to absenteeism (400 million annually) and is associated with a phenomenon known as “presenteeism”. Presenteeism occurs when a depressed individual shows up for work, but due to their depression is unable to perform their tasks in a suitable manner. The chart below shows other ways in which depression impacts an employee in the workplace.

Source: Depression Center-University of Michigan, Media Symposium March 22, 2004

Other Costs of Depression in the Workplace

• Significant increase in disability related costs
• 2-4 times greater use of healthcare dollars than nondepressed employees
• Disruption to workflow and project management
• Creates negative team environment
  

The good news is that many in business want to help
“As a supervisor, do you believe it is part of your job responsibility to identify and intervene to help employees who might have depression?”

Source: Depression Center-University of Michigan, Media Symposium March 22, 2004

The bad news is that they are not prepared
“As a supervisor of employees, have you personally received training to help you identify someone who exhibits signs of depression?”

Source: Depression Center-University of Michigan, Media Symposium March 22, 2004