Healthplan marketers may want to expand employee counseling programs, as clinical depression is an expensive and growing workplace problem, according to recent studies.
According to a national survey conducted by the Employee Assistance Professional Association (EAPA), EA professionals rank clinical depression as one of the most significant problems in the workplace.
Twenty-one percent of respondents cite depression as the most frequent problem seen among workers _ one of the top three overall. Only family crisis (25 percent) and stress (23 percent) ranked higher. Clinical depression was listed more frequently than workplace/job conflict or substance abuse.
"The survey was conducted in an effort to understand better how employee assistance professionals view the problem of depression in the workplace," said Don Magruder, CEAP, President of EAPA. "With widespread recognition of this problem, employees, managers and union representatives will be better able to assist through the workplace," he said.
(Employee Assistance Professional Association, 312-329-7542).