Toxic workplaces increase risk of depression by 300%, researchers say

Staff who work for organizations that ignore their employeeswell-being are three times more likely than their peers to have depression, according to a new study.

Researchers from University of South Australia made the discovery after a one-year population study, the results of which were published in the British Medical Journal.

While companies with poor management practices increase the risk of depression among their workers, long working hours increase the risk of staff dying from heart disease or stroke, they found.

The team, from the university’s Psychosocial Security Climate Observatory (PSC), also found that men were more likely than women to experience depression if their employers neglected their psychological health.

Lead author of the study, Dr Amy Zadow, said that a poor work culture can have a significant impact on people’s mental well-being.

“Evidence shows that companies that do not reward or recognize their employees for hard work, place unreasonable demands on workers and do not empower them, put their staff at a much higher risk of depression,” she declared.

The research comes shortly after the publication of a study co-authored by Dr Zadow’s colleague Maureen Dollard, which suggests that high levels of burnout and bullying at work are linked to business inability. to solve mental health problems.

Speaking about her work, Ms. Dollard, director of the PSC Observatory, said that “bullying can be predicted from a company’s commitment to mental health, so it can be avoided” .

She added that the overall costs of bullying and burnout are significant due to absenteeism and low productivity. To address this issue, Ms. Dollard called for “high level organizational change”.

Depression is thought to affect around 300 million people, with reports indicating that more people are suffering from poor mental health as a result of the pandemic. For example, data from National Statistics Office shows that one in five adults in the UK suffered from depression between January and March, compared to one in 10 before the coronavirus crisis.