As per a study that got published in the online journal PLoS ONE, it has been revealed that the employees who work for 11 or more hours are prime targets of depression, anxiety and stress.

The lead author, Marianna Virtanen, from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and University College London, said that they have a lot of difference in the health of people who have been working for standard eight hours and people who work for 11 hours or more.

In order to reach at the above conclusion, the study researchers looked at more than 2,000 middle-aged employees for more than six years. After assessing different factors, they found a strong link between the long working hours and depression.

It is not the first time that such concern has been raised. In 2003 the World Health Organization (WHO) also announced that depression is becoming a concern for developed countries. The official data that was retrieved for the study purpose also supports the WHO. It has been found that more than 40% of lost working days happen due to depression.

Things start getting complicated with depression as people start consuming alcohol and sometimes also indulge into drugs to get relief from depression. Virtanen said, "Although occasionally working overtime may have benefits for the individual and society, it is important to recognize that working excessive hours is also associated with an increased risk of major depression".

While supporting the study, Paul Farmer, who is the Chief Executive of Mental Health Charity Mind, said that making employees work for extra hours is a wrong practice. It neither benefits employees nor employers as extra hours working makes employees unhappy and tired which directly affects the quality of work they deliver. In many cases, the quantity of work production also gets reduced.