A disturbing recent study conducted by the ASSOCHAM INDIA, reveals depression as the most prominent disease which is observed among employees at the top of the corporate ladder. At the top of the ladder, the rate of emotional challenges such as anxiety and depression have sizable increased to 45-50 in the past eight years, and health experts say it’s just the beginning.

The sudden death of Ranjan Das in Nov. 2009, the then CEO of SAP remained headlines for several months, reminding the corporate of wellness issues within organizations which reflect a disturbing data.

Depression: A new age disaster

Depression a silent killer has secretly entered the corporate world engulfing almost half of the corporate population. The Monster is directly attacking people at the helm of the affair in an organization without even their realizing and acknowledging it.

Unhealthy lifestyle combined with erratic work schedules and unending desire to reach the top is pushing them towards a disaster. Corporate culture is now immune to a work style which is unwanted and undesirable. Constant rush to meet new and uncertain challenges every time has brought the top management to an emotional and psychological brink. Coping with the strenuous and stressed work lifestyle is a big challenge that today’s top corporate world is facing.

The top Corporate brass, have to continuously survive the stiff global competitive environment to deliver and at the same time save their jobs, adding pressure on their health, leading to silent diseases, thus impacting both their psychology as well as physiology. The challenges posed by the new age dilemmas and dogmas have severely impacted both the interpersonal and professional relationships creating a deep emotional void and vacuum resulting in chronic depression and ambiguous lifestyle.

Similar mental pressure is felt at home front too. The constant struggle to appease the family members, the unending desires and demands of children, the inability to spend quality time with the spouse all add up to the further misery. It is just a constant race against time always and an unending chase to be at the top always.

ASSOCHAM’s study reveals that as much as 38.5 percent of corporate employees sleep less than six hours a day owing to high-stress levels arising out of tough targets set for them by employers. In terms of the physical fitness, 57 percent of the employees in private companies said they “do not exercise at all”, while 23 percent do physical workout devoting less than one hour a week and 12 percent of the employees exercise for one to three hours a week.

The trend is visible worldwide as well. Lack of self-confidence, unrealistic expectations, and a nutrient-deficient diet, high intake of alcohol with incessant smoking, trigger the condition. Moreover, biological, psychological and environmental factors play a role too.

 The solution to this mess

Now, where does the solution to this growing menace lie? It lies within us, in our real consciousness. What we actually end up doing and what we actually want to do.

The real meaning and purpose of life get lost and we just run after mundane and materialistic wealth. The sole aim is just to accumulate as much as one can despite knowing that everything is temporary and nature carries its own agenda. So we need to channelize and prioritize our goals and aims and work towards them holistically through mindfulness and wellness. we need to actually sit back and think, what we are going to achieve with all our self-created troubles of stress, fear, anxiety, depression and so on.

In a larger picture, corporate houses have to understand the bigger side of wellness and their holistic approach towards both the mental and physical well-being, understanding the true fact that physiology and psychology go hand in hand. But the irony is that the Corporate Wellness Programs are being applied without being customized to the needs of the organization and hence they are not able to deliver the desired results. Merely Annual Health Check-up, the provision on online counseling help, wellness camps by calling a spiritual guru is not a complete remedy. It has to be a complete well defined holistic approach towards wellness and mindfulness catering to both the physical and spiritual needs.

The need of the hour is to have a multi-dimensional approach to control the killer.

• The Educational Institutions have to be the first line of defense for emotional and mental health disorders in our new generation. The system of education needs to be reviewed which calls for a complete overhauling. Rather than pushing the children to be at a top, the focus needs to be on the holistic wellness, which develops the child to embrace further challenges in the life.
• Organisations and corporate sectors bear a massive responsibility in generating awareness in the positive role of preventive health care as a part of their Corporate Social Responsibility. Embracing a VOI approach to health and wellness programs not only address their concerns about workforce health risks and related cost but also improve productivity — and in turn, their bottom line.

About the Author:

Dr. Gazal Goyal is a Global Entrepreneur working on the Mission in Building Lives Together. She works on the Philosophy of holding and guiding each other through every storm and sailing together towards a broader vision and common goals. A Passionate Writer, Inspiring People through her Soul-Searching Ideas, she is Radical thinker with a strong base in Practical Idealism.Dr. Gazal is a Doctorate in Political Science, UGC (JRF) and a Gold Medalist. She is the Founding Member of Conscience Connect an organization working towards Nurturing and Inculcating the Core Values of Community with the Right Mindset and Right Attitude.