Improving healthcare for depressed workers can help raise their spirits and your bottom line, according to a study that finds office workers who are depressed are twice as likely to call in sick and miss work compared with their colleagues.

Researchers found that workers who are persistently depressed are also seven times less productive on the job, based on a study of more than 6,200 office workers at three different corporations in the U.S. Survey results were published in the May issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Another finding: Depressed office workers who had one or more gripes with their healthcare provider were 34 percent more likely to have ongoing symptoms of depression and 66 percent more likely to have decreased effectiveness on the job two year later.