Ethics Newsline®

WASHINGTON
Depression is taking a toll on the U.S. workplace, costing an estimated $44 billion in lost productivity, according to a new report released last week.

Human-resource managers at more than 400 firms responded to a survey on workplace depression conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management and the National Foundation for Brain Research.

Fifty-six percent said that depression was hurting their firm’s productivity — slowing workers down, worsening the caliber of work, and causing increased absences, reported the Associated Press.

While 98 percent said that their workplace offered health-care benefits covering mental illness, only 60 percent of managers said that they had taken steps to actively help depressed workers.

The report recommends that firms train human-resource managers on how to approach depressed workers, offer confidential screening, and provide independent counseling for workers who may be resistant to sharing troubles with in-house personnel, according to the AP report.