When a company goes through tough financial times, more workers start using antidepressant medications, according to research from Tilburg University. Losing one’s job during such times is a big reason for this, but even people who keep their jobs are more likely to feel depressed. To tackle the emotional and financial problems caused by economic crises, the author suggests that we should do more to help people’s mental health during these tough times.

Think back to the global financial crisis in 2008. Many companies struggled to survive, and their employees were hit hard too. The research found that the mental health of employees got worse during the worst years of the crisis, especially for those working at struggling companies.

Encountering problems

The study looked at data from over 300,000 employees in the Netherlands. It found that people who worked at companies with serious financial problems were more likely to start taking antidepressant medications.

The most obvious reason for this increase in depression is that many people lost their jobs when their companies were struggling during the financial crisis. Interestingly, even those who didn’t lose their jobs were more likely to use antidepressants.

So, the big idea here is that we need to be more proactive about taking care of people’s mental health when the economy is in trouble. This will help individuals cope better and prevent the economic costs that come with a depressed workforce.

“A potential explanation is that these employees suffered from the fear of job loss,” the author explains.

Psychological toil

The paper provides a new insight into not only the financial burden imposed by the financial crisis but also the psychological toil it placed on the workforce. It shows that the health-related hit to productivity may be much greater than we previously thought.

“An important finding is that negative mental health effects are not necessarily restricted to people who lose their jobs,” the author explains. “Employees of struggling firms who manage to keep their jobs can also be negatively affected.”

As a result, they argue that organizations should do more to tackle mental health issues in the workplace and should strive to be proactive and preventative in their approach rather than reactive.

“Hopefully, our findings can encourage companies, unions and the government to address problems caused by firm-level financing difficulties in a more proactive way,” they conclude. “By offering psychological support, for instance, or by adjusting the workload when companies are going through financial difficulties.”