Office depression

Overweight employees are prone to having higher healthcare costs. Many of them are diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure, and depression. Office depression is not only common among employees that are overweight; it is common in every office. People that are trapped behind a desk for 8 hours a day rarely get a chance to see the outside world and bask in the sunlight that their bodies are craving.

Depression is treatable; you just have to understand the signs of depression to know if you have it. Employers often struggle with employees that battle depression because some of them have not been officially diagnosed with depression and others refuse to be treated for depression.

Identifying Depression
Depression is different for everyone. While you can easily identify it with some of your employees, others may seem perfectly happy but they are suffering from depression. Some of the common warning signs you can look for are as follows:

• Loss of energy, fatigued or lethargic


• Social withdrawal


• Weight gain or loss


• Agitation


• Uncontrollable crying


• Loss of self-esteem


• Despair


• Hopelessness and helplessness


• Irritable


• Angry


• Worrisome


• Self-critical


• Inability to concentrate


• Disorganized


• Indecisive

Pay attention to the personal lives of your employees. Several people experience depression when they have a dramatic life change like the death of a friend or family members. Others can experience depression when they get divorced or when their family moves away. If you can pay attention to the "normal" personality of your employees it will be much easier to identify when they have a mood change that points toward depression.

The Cost of Depression
Everyone knows that depression medication doesn't come cheap and it takes a lot of work from the person that has depression to pick themselves up and move forward. How much money does it cost the employer? A study done by John Hopkins University found that nearly 50,000 workers being treated for depression cost employers $83.1 billion dollars. This study was completed in 2001. With such a high number, it is no wonder that several employers are trying to help their employees that have depression. By the year 2020 experts predict depression to become the world's second largest disability.

The hard part about depression is that it not only costs the employer money on that employee, depression has a ripple effect. Several co-workers of this individual can start to pick up on the same symptoms because they are forced to pick up the extra work for this person. When the depressed employee takes time off, their co-workers tend to worry about them and they do not perform their job to their normal 100 percent effort. When the co-workers start to become affected, the morale at the company starts to decline and workers become less-productive.

Treating Office Depression
Besides asking the employee to see their doctor about their health condition, there are a few things employers can do to treat office depression. One of the best things an employer can do is force their employees to get up and move. Have the employees walk at least 20 minutes a day while they are at work. Exercise increases endorphins to the brain. The endorphins help to prevent depression. Hold your staff meetings outside so people can get some fresh air and some sunlight. People that experience seasonal depression tend to have these symptoms because their bodies are lacking in Vitamin D. Spending a few minutes outside will allow them to receive the sunlight they need and it will rejuvenate them because they got out of the typical office setting.

If you start taking medication, keep in mind that it will take at least 2 weeks to start working. It may even take longer before you start to feel the full effects of anti-depressant medication. This is why it is important to give the medication some time to kick-in.

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Categories: Depression,

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