Poor mental health affects workers’ productivity by reducing workers’ marginal productivity when they are at work (presenteeism) and increasing the rate of absence or reducing the numbers of hours worked (sickness absence). Workers lose an average of one hour per week owing to depression-related absenteeism and four hours per week due to depression-related presenteeism (Stewart et al., Mental health problems are a predictor of both short-term and long-term sickness absence, increasing the probability of short-term leave by 10% and that of long-term leave by 13% for severe disorders and 6% for mild-to-moderate disorders (OECD, 2012). Also, depression symptoms have a significant and large effect on sick-leave duration, since they account for an additional 7 days of annual sick leave (Knebelmann, 2014). This is problematic since long-term absence acts as the main pathway into disability benefits (e.g. Karlstrom et al.,