“Our statistics show us younger employees - the Generation Xers and the Millennials - are the ones reporting the highest rates of depression and anxiety symptoms, and it looks like it is going from bad to worse,” says Rod Phillips, president and CEO, WarrenShepell. “Over the last three years we’ve seen a tremendous jump in anxiety rates among 20-to-29-year-old employees, and depression rates among employees under 20 years old are higher than in any other age group.”
“These employees represent the most recent generations to enter the workforce,” continues Phillips, “and combined, they make up approximately one third of our labour pool. Employers are going to desperately need them over the next decade to ensure economic growth and fill the void left by older generations on the edge of retirement. Given this context, employers need to understand the nature of the emotional problems facing younger workers and what measures will address these employees’ specific needs. Organizations that understand what makes these newer generations ‘tick,’ will emerge as winners in the battle to recruit and retain these new talents.”
The Report examines Employee Assistance Provider (EAP) access patterns for depression, anxiety and anger for workers of varying ages in order to identify differences between them. Three years of WarrenShepell proprietary data (2001-03), representing over 123,000 employees in over 2,500 companies across Canada, was used.
Some of the EAP data results include:
-Younger employees presented the highest rates of depression. Three-year averages were 10.60% and 7.85% for individuals under 20 years old and 20-to-29-year-olds (respectively). Depression symptoms dipped for 30-to-49 year-olds (three-year average 5.58%), but rose again for employees 50 years of age and over (three-year average 6.91%).
-Anxiety symptoms were more prevalent among 20-to-29-year-olds (three-year average 3.94% versus the EAP national norm of 2.63%).
-Anxiety symptoms are on the rise for employees aged 20 to 29 years (3.43% in 2001 compared to 4.58% in 2003) and 30 to 49 years (2.21% in 2001 compared to 2.54% in 2003).
-Anger symptoms were more prevalent among younger employee groups (three-year average of 3.04% for employees under 20 years old) and decreased with age (1.55% for employees over 50 years old).
Other EAP data results include:
-Males reported substantially higher frequencies of anger symptoms compared to females (three-year averages 3.23% compared to 0.79%, respectively).
-Depression for both genders and all age groups was more than double that of anxiety (at 2.63%) and more than three times that of anger (at 1.72%).
Employers have good reason to actively work toward the prevention of these disorders within their working population,” adds Gerry Smith, vice president of Organizational Health, WarrenShepell. “These generations bring unique strengths and abilities to the workforce including a passion for new technologies and learning. But if these trends in anxiety and depression continue, employers will quickly witness the effects of these issues, which can include lower performance scores in problem solving, decision making, team effectiveness, and building and maintaining relationships.”
The report cites employers can assist by: providing employees with autonomy and clear feedback; encouraging employee input into decision making; and offering adequate training so that managers can recognize the symptoms of emotional problems and address them in an appropriate manner.
WarrenShepell is a leading provider of Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) and related organizational health and wellness services, offering services to over 3,000,000 employees and their families in over 2,500 organizations in Canada, the United States and internationally. The company was founded in 1979 by Dr. WarrenShepell. The WarrenShepell Research Group is a subsidiary of WarrenShepell. Its mandate is to educate employers and business leaders on mental health issues as they impact the workplace. The WarrenShepell Research Group offers a precise understanding of health and wellness trends by conducting sector and issue-based analysis. www.warrenshepell.com.