New study says:
"Businesses could Save Billions by Detecting & Treating Stress"GENEVA (CP) - Economic globalization has been accompanied by a huge increase in stress-related problems that are having a major impact on company bottom lines, says a Toronto expert on mental-health disorders in the workplace.
"Mental health disorders in Canada currently represent nearly 14 per cent of the total volume of operating profits of every Canadian business enterprise," says Bill Wilkerson, co-founder and president of the Toronto-based Business and Economic Roundtable on Mental Health.
Wilkerson, also a senior adviser to the 100-country World Federation for Mental health is presenting a report to a two-day conference on mental health and productivity in Geneva beginning Tuesday. The conference is co-sponsored by the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization.
The report, which he co-authored with Marten de Vries, the federation's secretary general, says mental health problems are "leaving the new global economy scarred by massive productivity losses and immense human suffering."
The World Health Organization says five of the 10 leading causes of disability are represented by mental health or neurological problems.
Research shows mental disorders hover at around 15 per cent of the world's population and rise to 40 per cent when stress-related disorders are included.
The Wilkerson-de Vries study notes mental health problems in North America cost $80 billion US a year and that stress-related and mental-health related disorders have increased about 200 per cent over the last five years as a percentage of payroll costs.
The federation says depression can be successfully treated in 80 per cent of cases. It called on managers and executives to improve detection rates of this often hidden illness to 50 per cent of cases from the current estimate rate of six per cent.
Wilkerson contends if this were to happen, small companies of about 500 employees could save "from $10 million to $15 million in any five-year period."
Large companies of 1,000 to 10,000 employees could increase their "direct bottom-line profit" from $7 billion to $10 billion over a similar period.
The ILO has published a new study on Mental Health in the Workplace to coincide with World Mental Health day on Tuesday.
The study examined the workforces of Finland, Germany, Poland, Britain and the United States and concluded that the incidence of mental health problems among workers is increasing sharply.
It finds as many as one in 10 workers suffering from depression, anxiety, stress or burnout, which lead, in some cases to hospitalization and unemployment.
The 235-page study estimates anywhere from three to four per cent of gross national product is spent on mental health problems in the European Union.
National spending in the United States associated with the treatment of depression ranges between $30 billion and $44 billion US and accounts for some 200 million lost work days each year.
"In many countries, early retirement due to mental health difficulties is increasing to the point where they are becoming the most common reason for allocating disability pensions," the study notes.
Phyllis Gabriel, author of the ILO Study, says more people leave the workforce because of mental problems than physical problems.
"We found that the leading cause of disability in pensions was related to a mental health problem and specifically depression," Gabriel said.
She said the stigma attached to mental health problems prevents people from seeking help.
The study links the high prevalence of stress, burnout and depression to "changes taking place in the labour market, due partly to the effects of economic globalization."
Wilkerson agrees, saying he favours globalization for economic reasons, but "not from a health point of view."
"We've got to deliver our workforce from enslavement by e-mail," he said.
© The Canadian Press, 2000
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