More than one in five employees in Canada believe they are suffering from depression, while more managers report having received training in how to intervene if an employee has the mental illness, according to a new survey.
Conducted by Ipsos Reid for the Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health, the survey shows that 22 percent of employees report they currently have depression (14 percent formally diagnosed), while an additional 16 percent say that they have experienced depression in the past.
The survey also shows that a majority of managers and supervisors (84 percent) believe it is part of their job to intervene if an employee shows signs of depression. This is comparable to the results of a similar survey in 2007 in which 83 percent of managers reported the same understanding.
However, in the current survey more managers report being prepared when an employee suffers from depression compared to 2007.
Sixty six percent of managers say they have a strong grasp of company policies regarding depression, a 20 percent increase compared to 2007, and 62 percent say they know what to do when an employee has depression, an increase of 7 percent.
Fifty-five percent of managers report having personally intervened with an employee they thought showed signs of depression, an increase of 26 percent compared to 2007.
“In 2007, only one in five had received any training on how to intervene with emotionally distressed employees; now one third do,” Mary Ann Baynton, program director for Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health, said in a news release.
“This speaks to increased awareness and availability of resources.”
Baynton notes however that improvements are still needed as two thirds of managers continue to ask for better training and employers may not have access to proper resources to respond.
Employers are also seen as less accommodating of those who have mental health issues than those suffering from physical disability, the survey shows.
According to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), nearly three million Canadians experience depression at one point in life, with the rate of occurrence being the highest in the working years, between the ages of 24 and 44.
Some of the signs of depression that can be observed at the workplace include difficulty in making decisions, decreased productivity, inability to concentrate, and lack of enthusiasm for work, among others, the CMHA says.
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