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Objective: Mental disorders are quite common among employees, and cause enormous economic costs. The Salzgitter-Model aims at an early recognition of mental disorders in employees of raw material processing industries by rendering a diagnostic examination (DE), so that appropriate health-care services may be provided promptly., Methods: Data of a consecutive sample consisting of 133 mentally ill employees (61% men) were analyzed. Mental disorders were diagnosed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. Moreover, routine data of company health insurance funds collected in the 6 months preceding the DE were evaluated., Results: On average, the DE was conducted 14 days after application. Half the diagnoses were of mood disorders, while almost one third consisted of neurotic, stress-related, and somatoform disorders. For 63% of diagnoses from the DE, a correspondence was found with diagnoses made by practitioners during standard care over the previous 6 months. Of these employees, 42% received drug therapy. However more than one fifth did not receive guideline-based psychopharmacological treatment. Psychological symptoms and work-related factors were the main reasons for utilization of the DE. No employee had received psychotherapeutic treatment prior to the DE; more than 90% accepted the recommendation of treatment after the DE., Conclusion: Strengthened interdisciplinary cooperation can improve the utilization of an employee group that usually does not seek out specific diagnostic examinations and psychotherapeutic treatment., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)