Worst thing about ‘Blue Monday’? Things are only going to get more depressing

JANUARY’S Blue Monday is not the most depressing day of the year, analysis has found, after showing that November and December are worse.

In 2005 Dr Cliff Arnall, formerly of Cardiff University, came up with a light-hearted formula for predicting the day of the year when people were at their most despondent – based on factors including weather, debt, time since Christmas and motivation.

He concluded unhappiness peaked at the third Monday in January as festive bills rolled in and the post-holiday buzz wore off. But analysis of 18.7 million sick days taken by 600,000 employees at FTSE 100 companies and NHS Trusts shows January never makes it into the top month for people taking time off for mental health issues.

In fact for 13 out of 15 years, most mental health sick days were taken in November or December, with Nov 14 and 27 and Dec 1 specially pinpointed.

In contrast, the main reasons given for workplace absence recorded in January were coughs, colds and flu.

Ian Caminsky, CEO at Firstcare, a company that manages work absence for firms, said: “Our database shows it is more likely Blue Monday falls in November or December. The impact of mental health absence on the economy is staggering but not surprising. If organisations put employee welfare at the top of the agenda, the resulting productivity boost will pay dividends.”

Throughout last year, mental health related absences accounted for more working days lost than any other reason, a trend that only started in 2018.

High sickness absence for mental health has only twice failed to appear in November or December – in 2010 (Sept 13) and 2019 (Feb 18).

However the analysis confirmed that Monday retained its claim to be the most depressing day of the week, with more absences that day than any other.