Suicide has a dramatic impact on the workplace in both human and financial terms, whether it is an employee, family member or friend. The statistics are staggering.

General statistics

• Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States, with more than 30,000 killing themselves each year.  Every 18 minutes an American takes his or her own life.¹
• For every two victims of homicide in the United States, there are three persons who take their own lives. There are now twice as many deaths due to suicide as to HIV/AIDS.²
• Each year, 650,000 Americans receive emergency care after attempting to take their own lives.³
• Of those who die by suicide, more than 90 percent have depression or another diagnosable mental or substance abuse disorder.⁴
• In any given one-year period, 9.5 percent of the population, or about 18.8 million American adults, suffer from a depressive illness.⁵

Business impact

• One in 14 employees suffers from depression at any one time, resulting in more than 200 million lost workdays each year and a cost of $44 billion annually in absenteeism, lost productivity and direct treatment costs. ⁶
• Nearly two-thirds of all suicides occur among the nation’s workforce, Americans ages 25-65. About 20,000 deaths were reported in 2000 for this age group.⁷
• The annual cost of workforce-related suicides has been calculated to be approximately $11.8 billion in 1998 dollars.⁸
• The impact of suicide on a corporate family consisting of 100,000 employees, with an average of four blood relatives per employee, includes: ⁹
  • The loss of a member to suicide every seven days.
• Three suicide attempts every day since there are about 25 nonfatal suicide attempts for every reported suicide. Some of these attempts result in a significant medical injury, which directly impacts health care costs, particularly for self-insured companies.

For organizations with a global workforce, it also is important to understand how incidents of suicide vary among different countries and cultures around the world. The prevalence of suicide varies significantly throughout the world: The World Health Organization reports that the highest rates of suicide in 2001 occurred in the West Pacific, followed by Southeast Asia and Europe.

Suicide prevention programs have a positive impact
The U.S. Air Force was experiencing an annual rate of 15.8 suicide deaths per 100,000 of its 350,000-person community, the highest of all U.S. armed forces, before developing and implementing its community-based suicide prevention program in 1995. Subsequently, the suicide rate fell 79 percent to less than 3.5 suicide deaths per 100,000 in 1999. The Air Force program is replicable in existing communities and corporations. The result can be a demonstrable reduction in the emotional, physical and financial toll of depression and suicide; lost productivity and absenteeism; and costs of operations and medical benefits.

These efforts also can prevent some homicides in both the workplace and the home; according to the U.S. Air Force data, successful suicide prevention programs also reduce other kinds of violence. Sometimes, instances of workplace violence result in the perpetrator ending his own life. Keep in mind too that employees who see no future for their own life are at increased risk for perpetrating workplace violence. These acts of violence often are premeditated, so they can be prevented if the warning signs are acted upon and there is intervention.

¹National Strategy for Suicide Prevention
²National Strategy for Suicide Prevention
³National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Goals and Objectives for Action , U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001.
⁴The National Institute of Mental Health, 2001
⁵The National Institute of Mental Health
⁶The National Mental Health Association
⁷The American Association of Suicidology
⁸Reducing Suicide: A National Priority, The Institute of Medicine, 2002.
⁹ Paul Quinnett, PhD, Director, the QPR Institute, Spokane, Wash.