The number of employees medicated for anxiety and depression rise by 5.7 percent over an existing base rate of 5.2 percent when pay is based on performance–and up 8.9 percent for older workers. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Employers across the country have been putting a lot more thought into their compensation programs in recent years, partially responding to the more-competitive market for talent, but also to increasing pay transparency among workers. Many have landed on a pay-for-performance model, which seems logical enough–at first glance.

A first-of-its-kind study from researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and Aarhus University in Denmark, found that a company that switches to a pay-for-performance process (which includes things like bonuses, commissions, piece rates, profit sharing, individual and team goal achievements or some other configuration) will also see a rise in the number of employees using anxiety and depression medication.

Researchers found that the number of employees medicated for anxiety and depression rise by 5.7 percent over an existing base rate of 5.2 percent. What's more, the effect was more pronounced in older workers, who experienced an 8.9 percentage increase over the base rate in prescriptions for benzodiazepines such as Xanax or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as Zoloft. This could be because older workers lack as much labor mobility as younger ones, although it could also be due to less openness or resilience to such a change on their part compared to the younger, still developing workers.