How to Deal with the Silent Beast – Depression at the Workplace

Depression is what they called the silent killer. This issue has since become just as alarming as HIV and Cancer. It’s silent in that the symptoms are hidden. You will have to look from the inside in order to understand it. I am quite fortunate to hire good motivated team members as we acquire all multifamily and self-manage them to have better controls and for the thrill of negotiating contracts to save expenses.

A depressed employee can be a problem because it can affect his/her productivity and efficiency. It can also affect relationships between colleagues and cause rifts within an employee’s family.

Fortunately, there are existing approaches that can help us overcome depression.

More smiles at the office.

Who doesn’t like a happy and enjoyable environment while working?

A happy workplace means a lot to an employee. It creates an atmosphere wherein you can socialize and create valuable bonds with your colleagues. If you have a positive atmosphere at your workplace, depression is less likely to occur.

In addition, a supportive boss can help lessen the stress levels or put a stop to the occurrence of depression. He or she can else help secure a healthy workplace where a person can develop his skill.

If the working atmosphere is employee-friendly, the productivity of an employee improves and the stress levels are reduced.

The role of managers

A manager’s responsibility is to achieve certain business needs. If personal problems are interfering with an employee’s performance and duties, then the manager has to step in.

While it’s not a manager’s responsibility to diagnose depression, he or she still has to support his employees when they going through personal issues affecting their performance.

This means that managers will need to refer their employees to a psychiatrist or to the company's human resource team. This can help confront the condition before it gets even worse.

Even a tenured employee can be weakened by depression, so it’s the manager’s responsibility to intervene as soon as possible.

Knowing the enemy

If you think you are depressed and you feel like quitting, seek help immediately. Depression is not a joke. It’s something that needs prior attention.

One thing’s for sure, you can build a great support group for yourself. You can get friends or family members to give you sound advice on the things that are bothering you.

Still, it’s safer if you already know the symptoms of having this silent killer around.

Visit your doctor if you are experiencing the following symptoms;

• You feel sad most of the time
• low energy
• low self-esteem
• loss of interest
• Change in appetite or weight loss, or increased appetite and weight gain.
• Restlessness, irritability.
• difficulty sleeping
• feeling of guilt
• worthlessness or self-pity
• helpless
• Seeing oneself committing suicide
• pessimism/ negative thoughts

Call a specialist right away if you have these symptoms. There are also a lot of organizations that are willing to help you out.

Don’t think that depression is something that’s incurable. You just need a support system to help you win your battles. At our companies, we make use of software such as Video ZOOM and GOTO MEETINGS to reach out to employees.

They help tremendously and we have them each and every desk. This is so we can hold all daily, weekly and monthly meetings on Zoom. This way we can feel and understand the demeanor of each team member, their energy, and their facial expressions to dig deeper into the challenges they might be facing and address them quickly.

Stay positive! Continue to live your life and spend some time to enjoy the great things that you have right now!