Dealing with depression in the office

Dealing with depression in the office is always complicated for every employer. Depression impacts your entire office, not just one or two workers. When one person comes in and they are in a depressed mood, this will spread to everyone else in the office. This causes employees to lose their motivation and drive toward their job. If you already have some staff members that struggle with obesity, be prepared to start dealing with emotional issues as well.

Why do people get depressed when they are at work?
A lot of people get depressed at work because they are unable to see the sunlight. Our bodies need Vitamin D and this comes from the sun. Simply drinking Vitamin D milk will not suffice when it comes to getting the needed energy our bodies crave. Another reason why people get depressed at work is because they don't get enough exercise. Sitting behind a desk hour after hour can really hurt your body and cause aches and pains. If you exercise daily and stretch while you are work, endorphins will be released into the brain and you will be happier. This is actually why a lot of people that are obese are also diagnosed with depression.

Signs of Depression
Not everyone reacts the same when it comes to depression. Some people may hide it and handle it well while others end up showing it on their sleeves and impacting everyone around them. Here are some of the most-common signs of depression:

• Weight gain or loss


• Social withdrawal


• Loss of energy, fatigued or lethargic


• Hopelessness and helplessness


• Irritable and angry


• Worrisome


• Self-critical


• Inability to concentrate


• Disorganized


• Indecisive

Besides work factors, there are a lot of home-life problems that may be causing your employees to be depressed. As an employer, it is your job to pay attention to the emotional needs of your family members. You need to keep an eye on them if they recently lost a family member or close friend. Divorce can also cause a lot of people to experience depression so it is important to be supportive of your employees if they are going through some major life changes.

How much does depression cost employers?
If you have employees that have been diagnosed with depression or they show some signs of depression, you are in for a big investment. A study done by John Hopkins University found that nearly 50,000 workers being treated for depression. This costs their employers $83.1 billion dollars a year in health care costs and lost production costs. By the year 2020 experts at John Hopkins predict depression to become the world's second largest disability.

Depression is dangerous because it causes employees to be less-productive, this will then spread to their co-workers. When the office is unhealthy, no one really wants to come to work and they certainly don't put in the same efforts they do when they are happy and productive. If you have employees that are constantly missing work due to depression, your other staff members will be forced to pick up their slack. This causes them to become resentful against this employee and a hostile work environment will develop.

If co-workers of the depressed employee start to become hostile, the company morale will decrease. People will start using more sick leave and many of them will search for a new job where they are treated better and the office environment is uplifting and happy. To combat office depression, you need to talk to your employees that are causing the office morale to drop. Ask them to speak with a medical professional about getting help for their illness. You can also help them by offering passes to a gym or allowing your employees to take time out of their work days to exercise. Exercise is one of the best forms of medicine out there and it can really improve the morale at your company.

Rating: 0/5 (0 votes cast)

---

Categories: Depression,

Help others find this article:
Socializer, Digg, del.icio.us, reddit, StumbleUpon

Favorites: Add to favorites
Tags: