Depression and Work

So today's post is brought to you via a friend of mine who expressed feeling depressed over her job.  Now, I know she was using the term "depressed" in the modern everyday form, but it got me to thinking about depression as it relates to the workplace.  Generally, we spend about 1/3 of our time at work - more if you had a job like I used to, where you didn't always get to leave on time at the end of your shift.

As you would have read in my previous posts, there's a lot of stigma attached to mental illness, with about  50% of Canadians thinking it's just an excuse for poor behaviour (http://www.thefsagroup.com/CMHA/pdfLib/StigmaandDiscriminationFactSheet.pdf).  In Alberta, it's reported that 43.3% of residents believe depression is caused by a weakness of character.  (http://www.mooddisorderscanada.ca/documents/Media%20Room/Quick%20Facts%203rd%20Edition%20Eng%20Nov%2012%2009.pdf).  I digress a bit here, but just setting the scene.  With these attitudes, it's no wonder that so many people choose to suffer in silence.

According to the Mood Disorders Society of Canada, mental illness causes more lost work days per year than any other chronic condition - and costs the economy something to the tune of $51 BILLION annually in lost productivity.

In A Report on Mental Illness in Canada (Health Canada 2002), workplace supports for someone with a mental illness are addressed:  "Aside from the home, the workplace is the primary location of adult life.  As such it plays an influential role in an individual's health and well-being.  Much of the impact of mental illness in the workplace is reflected in poor productivity and increased use of sick leave.  Stigma surrounds people with mental health difficulties, and the recovery process is often misunderstood.  Employers need  to demonstrate that they do not discriminate and are fair in their policies and procedures in dealing with mental health problems."

Now, those who know me know that I've got a degree in Commerce with a specialization in Human Resources & Industrial Relations.  I came along at the time when a lot of companies were starting to smarten up and realize that their people were their most valuable resource.  Even if I didn't suffer from depression, I'd be keen on taking care of the employee and making sure the work environment is "mentally healthy".  There's a British study referred to on the Mood Disorder Society's web page that suggests teachers, nurses, social workers, probation officers, police officers, armed forces and medical practitioners have higher incidences of work-related mental illnesses.  Managers (ME!!!) and administrators, teaching professionals, other associate professionals, clerical and secretarial, sales and personal services occupations have a higher risk.

I couldn't find it, but I remember reading an article about high-stress management jobs and lack of decision-making ability being a good trigger for the onset of mental illness.  I know from personal experience, I've felt this way - I wasn't able to make basic decisions regarding my operations without running it by my superior - even if it was to place a service call for broken machinery.  I was second in charge of a $3.5/million per year business with about 85 employees - you'd think I could make that decision on my own.

I came across this helpful list of what causes a stressful work environment.  I don't want to completely dump on my past work experiences, but there are several of these items that figured prominently in my day-to-day working environment:

Organizational Function & Culture

• poor taske environment and lack of definition of objectives
• poor problem solving environment
• poor development environment
• poor communication

Role in Organization

• Role abiguity
• Role conflict
• High responsibility for people

Career Development

• Career uncertainty
• Career stagnation
• Poor status or status incongruity
• Poor pay
• Job insecurity and redundancy
• Low social value to work

Decision Latitude/Control

• Low participation in decision-making
• Lack of control over work
• Little decision-making in work

Interpersonal Relationships at Work

• Social or physical isolation
• Poor relationships with supervisors
• Interpersonal conflict and violence
• Lack of social or practical support at home
• Dual career problems

Task Design

• Ill-defined work
• High uncertainty in work
• Lack of variety of short work cycles
• Fragmented or meaningless work
• Underutilization of skill
• Continual exposure of client/customer groups

Workload/Work Pace

• Lack of control over pacing

Qualities of Work

• Work overload or underload
• High levels of pacing or time pressure

Work Schedule

• Shift working
• Inflexible work schedule
• Unpredictable working hours
• Long or unsocialble working hours

So if you've made it this far, now you know some of what can cause mental health issues in the workplace.  But what does it look like?  Well, again allow me to steal shamelessly and copy verbatim from the Mood Disorder Society's web page (again!) (thank you copy & paste!) (http://www.mooddisorderscanada.ca/page/no-4-identifying-problem-areas):

According to Stress at Work: A Guide for Employers: (UK Health & Safety Executive. Crown, 1995); the consequences of mental health problems in the workplace can be summarized as follows:

Absenteeism

• increase in overall sickness absence, particularly frequent short periods of absence;
• poor health (depression, stress, burnout);
• physical conditions (high blood pressure, heart disease, ulcers, sleeping disorders, skin rashes, headache, neck- and backache, low resistance to infections).

Work performance

• reduction in productivity and output;
• increase in error rates;
• increased amount of accidents;
• poor decision-making;
• deterioration in planning and control of work.

Staff attitude and behaviour

• loss of motivation and commitment;
• burnout;
• staff working increasingly long hours but for diminishing returns;
• poor timekeeping;
• labour turnover (particularly expensive for companies at top levels of management).

Relationships at work

• tension and conflicts between colleagues;
• poor relationships with clients;
• increase in disciplinary problems.

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Wow, again I fit the bill on a lot of these items:

• Poor health (depression, stress, burnout)
• Physical conditions (my shoulders were constantly knotted, lower back too)
• Reduction in productivity
• Poor decision making
• Deterioration in planning and control of work
• Loss of motivation and commitment (this one was huge.  and the "more I criticize you, the better you'll be" pep-talk certainly didn't help in this regard)
• Working long hours for diminishing returns (hello schedules! lol)
• Poor timekeeping
• Tension and conflicts with colleagues

So if you're in the management field (or any supervisory role) (or even a co-worker role) if you see some of these warning signals - DON'T IGNORE THEM!!  My career deteriorated to the point I was put on probation for poor performance because 1) I was in no mental shape to realize how far gone I was in relation to the depression I was suffering, and 2) my superiors didn't pick up on the warning signs early enough.  I can't blame them for it, since they likely had no idea what to be looking for, or how to deal with it.  And let me tell ya, when you already feel like absolute shit about yourself and your life, getting put on probation at work does wonders for your self-esteem and self-confidence.

Hopefully if you ever find yourself in a position where you have an employee exhibiting some of the symptoms described above, you can help them.  If I can spare someone else from going through the hell I've been through on this little adventure, I'll sleep somewhat easier at night.