NYAPRS Note: Stigma in the workplace contributes to reduced performance, diminished office culture, and overall workplace dissatisfaction for people with mental health needs. Employers who want to promote optimal performance should feel incentivized to encourage employees to take care of their mental health and total well-being. Insurance companies, in fact, do often provide incentives for employers to provide wellness activities that promote mental health. The lack of understanding and commitment workplaces have to the health of their employees is emblematic of stigma in society as a whole; it also tells a story about the prominence of hard work and economic viability as the dominant value system that we are held to. Overcoming this value system while still valuing work should be a focus of healthcare reform for people at any income level.
Seven in Ten Bosses Believe Stress, Anxiety or Depression Are Not Valid Excuses for Time Off
Daily Mail; Julian Robinson, 3/31/2015
Nearly seven in ten bosses believe stress, anxiety or depression are not valid excuses for taking time off, a survey has found.
Most bosses think mental illness does not warrant time off work – even though a quarter of employees suffer from such problems at some point each year.
A thousand managers, executives and company owners as well as a thousand employees were asked to take part in the survey, carried out by AXA PPP healthcare.
The findings revealed that most workers are so worried about the stigma surrounding mental health that they would not tell their bosses the truth about why they were calling in sick
But 69 per cent of bosses do not think it is a valid excuse, according to the research – but about one in four conceded that they had experience some form of mental illness in the past.
Nearly 50 per cent of the workers questioned believed their bosses did not take such issues seriously and seven per cent were worried about what their manager’s reaction would be if they revealed their problems.
Only about 40 per cent of employees said they would be honest about their problems when calling in sick if they were suffering anxiety, stress or depression.
The Daily Telegraph quotes Emma Mamo, from the mental health charity Mind as calling the findings ‘worrying’ but ‘not surprising’.
The head of workplace wellbeing at the charity added: ‘We know that there is still a taboo around talking about issues like stress, anxiety and depression at work.
‘Yet we all have mental health, just as we all have physical health, and mental health problems are prevalent across all types of roles.’
The newspaper quotes Dr. Mark Winwood, director of clinical psychology at AXA PPP healthcare, as saying: ‘Lack of understanding breeds fear so improving employees’ awareness and understanding of mental illness is one of the most important things a company’s senior management team can do and a critical first step is to challenge the stigma surrounding mental ill health in the workplace.’