With the costs of depression to the UK economy increasing, many employers are beginning to ask what they can do to tackle an issue that is still hidden and taboo. To coincide with National Depression Week (17 – 23 April), HR Zone looked at one potential solution – using work as part of rehabilitation.
Given that depression causes an estimated £23.1 billion lost output in the economy and that nearly 13 million working days are lost each year due to work-related stress, anxiety or depression, you would think that UK businesses would be tackling the issue en masse.
Sadly, many employees still struggle in isolation, fearing a negative reaction from colleagues and bosses. In turn, many managers worry they will make things worse by talking to someone who is depressed.
Now, however, a new initiative has been launched in the UK to address the issue. The ‘Return to Work’ programme, run by leading employee assistance provider ICAS, originated in Australia where the company achieved an 86% success rate in getting employees with depression back into work, within an average of four weeks.
The philosophy behind the programme is simple. Getting back to work is not only important from a personal financial point of view, but can also play a fundamental part in recovering from depression.
Leonie Nowland, Head of Return to Work Services at ICAS, explains what is involved: “Once an employer identifies the problem, one of our team meets with the employee to assess the underlying issues and immediate priorities. We then work with them and their line manager to devise a step-by-step plan which initially involves liaising with their GP and organising counselling or therapy.
“Once they are ready, we assess the individual’s capacity for work, identify specific barriers and plan a return to work programme ensuring the right support is in place to make it possible.”
David Flowers, Chief Occupational Physician at Centrica, which has 35,000 employees in the UK, believes that businesses have to be proactive in their approach to the problems caused by depression: “Getting people back to work quickly with the right support helps to prevent losing skilled staff. Not only is it expensive to recruit new staff, but they will never have the depth of knowledge of people who have worked for you for a long time.
“Secondly, we have to protect against potential litigation by taking all steps possible to keep staff. Finally, in an increasingly competitive recruitment market, a business must stand out as a good employer to attract and retain staff.”
But if a company like Centrica already has its own occupational health service, why do they need to work with a company like ICAS? David Flowers explains: “If a member of staff is unsure of the reaction they’re going to get from an employer, offering contact with the in house team won’t be the right solution. In those circumstances you need to offer an assurance that they are dealing with someone independent.”
Case study:
Joe* had been feeling the stress mounting for many months at his work for a bank. His team had been cut and he was doing three people’s jobs. “That kind of pressure is fine for a couple of months, but you can’t sustain it in the long term.” He didn’t realise how bad things were until he crashed his car last August.
“All of a sudden my world just caved in.” The crash acted as a trigger to a breakdown and depression followed. Joe was signed off work and for the first few weeks all he could was to sit at home and do nothing. Fortunately, his company use ICAS’ ‘Return to Work’ programme and were able to offer him a route back into work.
ICAS contacted Joe at home and suggested that he start by seeing a psychologist on a regular basis. After a few weeks the ICAS consultant began to work out a step-by-step programme for Joe to return to work, which involved working closely with him and his line manager.
Joe was keen to get back to work, but the issues that had triggered his depression in the first place needed to be addressed. “My line manager has been first class,” he said. “She recognised that I couldn’t keep up the volume of work I had before and has taken steps to sort out the lack of support.” Joe started by visiting the office for a few weeks before starting work. His consumer-facing work began again just two weeks ago and he is delighted to be back.
“I’m working part-time to start with, which is great. Everyone knows what’s happened and have been really supportive, which suits me as I’m an open book and don’t want to hide anything.”
For more information about ‘Return to Work’ visit www.icasworld.com
For support and information on depression visit: www.mentalhealth.org.uk, www.depressionalliance.org or www.mind.org.uk
*Name has been changed to protect the individual’s anonymity.
One Response
At the end of the day, it’s about humanising business
As a Stress Therapist I am delighted to hear about this initiative, but are employers really getting the point?
It is not surprising really that, as companies rely more and more on automated systems and choose to view the bottom line as the most important aspect of their businesses, that people feel less secure about their future and become depressed.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that business is there to make money, but I believe a lot of companies have failed to understand the importance of their workforce as being central to addressing ‘bottom line’ issues and I think this is proving to be short-termist, as the statistics would suggest.
To me, it’s a complete ‘no-brainer’. Treat people with respect and like a human being; give them a chance to air their views and ideas, give them career progression potential and some flexibility in what they do and how they do it and, in the vast majority of cases, you’ll get a motivated workforce.
Treat them like a number, with no security and no prospects and (surprise, surprise!), people lose motivation, feel undervalued and uncared for and get sick.
I’m glad companies like ICAS exist and do what they do, but let’s understand the reason this technique works. It’s because it makes people feel cared for and supported.
Let’s hope more businesses and business owners get to understand this basic principle and start to care for their employees BEFORE there’s a need to treat undue stress and depression.
One of the major pleasures in my job at the moment, is going into the more enlightened companies and teaching people how to manage stress positively and how to make the necessary changes to do so. The difference it makes to the indivuduals and businesses concerned is substantial.
If more employers were investing in this type of service and others like them, they would find a decrease in absenteeism, improved staff retention and performance rising, amongst other benefits.
Annie Lawler