Downsizing hurts employees' mental health

updated 8:32 p.m. ET Jan. 17, 2007

LONDON - Workers who survive downsizing measures and hold on to their jobs may consider themselves lucky but they have a higher risk of suffering from mental health problem, Finnish scientists said on Thursday.

After studying the impact of downsizing on municipal employees they found men who kept their jobs were 50 percent more likely to be given a prescription for an antidepressant or sleeping pill than people where there had been no enforced layoffs.

“This quasi-experimental outcome study of 26,653 city employees suggests that downsizing is a mental health risk, not only for employees who lose their jobs, but also for those who remain in employment,” said Professor Mika Kivimaki, of University College London.

Women in the study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health were 12 times more likely to use a prescription drug after downsizing.

Sleeping pills were the most commonly used drug for men while women were more often prescribed anti-anxiety drugs.

Kivimaki and his team said employers, policy makers and occupational health experts should recognize that downsizing poses mental health problems.

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