Depression's surprising toll on worker productivity.

Employers need to adopt a broad set of measures to combat depression, which has a serious impact on health care costs and productivity. They should start by conducting an assessment of the various ways depression surfaces and prepare carefully designed responses, involving HR, the EAP, line managers/supervisors, health plan vendors, managed behavioral firms, disability program managers and PBMs, among others. With such an approach, ultimately employers should realize improved medical plan costs, reduced disability expenditures, lower absence rates and enhanced productivity.