The University of British Columbia

Published purpose

Depression costs the Canadian economy over $30 billion annually in reduced workplace productivity (Conference Board of Canada, 2016); the annual costs to the average British Columbian company with 500 employees is $1.4 million (BC Business and Economic Roundtable on Mental Health, 2007). While absenteeism (defined as employees taking time off work due to their symptoms) is certainly a contributor to this economic burden, the costs of presenteeism (defined as employees being physically present but less productive due to their symptoms) are even more substantial (Evans-Lacko & Knapp, 2016). Thus, individuals with depression require support both to return to work and to facilitate their functional recovery while there. In response to this problem, workplace mental health programs to identify and treat employees with depression have become increasingly popular. While such programs are helpful in reducing depression symptom severity, they do not necessarily result in significant improvements in workplace productivity or decreases in presenteeism (Fukuwara et al. 2011; Wang et al. 2007; Lerner and Henke, 2008). Even individuals who show substantial clinical improvement continue to demonstrate impairments in workplace functioning compared to neverdepressed individuals (Adler et al., 2006). These workplace-specific findings align with the broader literature in depression, which has shown that improvements in multiple aspects of real world functioning do not always parallel improvements in traditionally-defined symptoms of depression (Bortolato et al. 2016; Sheehan et al.,2017). Thus, depression treatment strategies specifically targeting functional recovery in the workplace remains an unmet need.