by Lynn Roberts

On June 25, I will be joining business and community leaders at the Northview Golf and Country Club in Surrey for the eighth annual Coast Capital Savings Charity Golf Tournament to benefit depression research funded through the VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation.

This is an event we all look forward to every year, non-golfers and golfers alike, and it doesn’t matter if you have a golf swing that would hardly make Tiger Woods feel threatened. That’s because the tournament’s importance lies in the cause it supports and the awareness it raises about depression and, as a human resources professional, I am particularly pleased with the spotlight it places on workplace depression. In fact, since its inception through the vision and leadership of former Coast Capital Savings CEO Lloyd Craig, this event has raised almost $800,000, most of which has gone towards funding research into various forms of depression including bi-polar depression, post-partum mood disorders and workplace depression.

In addition to raising money, one of the goals of the Coast Capital Savings Charity Golf Tournament is to raise awareness. That’s because, when it comes to depression, denying its relevance does nothing to support healthy employees and healthy companies. While businesses are increasingly recognizing the importance of addressing depression in the workplace, a lot of work still remains to be done and many fail to realize the impacts not just on their employees but on their organization as a whole.

Businesses need to recognize that the mental health of employees is a business and economic issue. It is estimated that mental health disorders cost Canadian industry $20 to $30 billion a year in lost production. Mental ailments are a major culprit in driving up disability rates and are in fact the world’s leading cause of disability. One in 20 employees in Canada may suffer from depression and more than 55 per cent of the costs are borne through the workplace. Take a look at most corporate drug plans and you’ll find that anti-depressant medications make up the single biggest expense for employees between 25 and 44 years of age. And, mental illnesses such as depression have been linked to a variety of other bodily disorders, including heart disease.

For businesses, this has implications for employee output and costs. Without action to identify early onset depression and help employees, businesses inevitably face rising short-term and long-term disability costs when employees get too sick to work. We know that depression, on average, takes an employee off the job for 40 days and potentially leads to long-term disability. And then there is presenteeism – where employees show up at work but are not mentally healthy enough to give their best. Harvard University research shows that this actually costs businesses more than if the employee were absent.

I have highlighted the negative impacts of mental illness on productivity and costs only to buttress the fact that concerted action on this issue is a business imperative. Of course, there is also the absolute humanitarian imperative to act. When an employee is sick with any medical condition, they deserve full support and understanding from employers, whether the ailment is cancer or depression. Depression unfortunately faces unique challenges such as the stigma attached to it, which makes it important for employers to tackle it with urgency and openness. And given the increasing stresses we all face, cases of depression will likely continue to increase.

For more information on how employers can address depression in the workplace, visit www.bcmentalhealthworks.ca.

To learn more about how you can be participate in the Coast Capital Savings Charity Golf Tournament and support a worthy cause, visit www.coastcapitalsavings.com/golf.

As businesses and as individuals, let’s all play our part in taking a swing at depression.

Lynn Roberts is vice-president, human resources with Canada’s second largest credit union, Coast Capital Savings, which is headquartered in Surrey.