Stigma in the workplace affects managers' ability to support employees

Managers are not only influenced by their own views on mental health when employees with mental health problems need support. The attitudes of colleagues and the workplace in general can be equally important. This has been shown in a study conducted at the University of Gothenburg.

Previous research shows that managers with their own stigmatized attitudes towards mental illness fall short when dealing with employees who are mentally ill. Managers are simply limited in their efforts towards employees with mental health problems.

The current study, the first of its kind, examined the relationships between managers' ability to support employees and the surrounding attitudes in the organization: of employees, of managers' colleagues and of the workplace as a whole.

The study, published in the Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, is based on an online survey of more than 4,000 managers in the private sector, recruited via the Citizens' Panel at the SOM Institute at the University of Gothenburg. 2,769 of the respondents completed all the steps and were included in the study.

Workplace attitudes matter

The results show that stigmatized attitudes towards mental ill health in the wider social context of the workplace can be as important as the attitudes of individual managers. The lead researcher in the study is Monica Bertilsson, Associate Professor of Public Health at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg:

Stigma against mental health is a problem in both society and the workplace. This prevents many employees from disclosing their problems and therefore affects their access to support in the workplace. We have now also found a link between managers' perceptions of negative attitudes towards mental illness in the company, among employees or among managerial colleagues and managers' own ability to take action to support and prevent sick leave."

Monica Bertilsson, Associate Professor of Public Health at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg

In the study, managers were shown short films in which actors played employees and talked about their difficulties in coping with the job. The videos ended with an "I wonder if I need to go on sick leave" and the managers were then asked to choose from a range of suggested actions.

Videos were considered more reliable than written case descriptions where managers could have interpreted an existing employee and responded based on an actual situation at work. Which of the produced films a participant got to see was matched with industry affiliation. 

The questions on workplace measures were divided into three groups: changes in work environment or tasks, support or help from expert resources, and day-to-day planning support from a manager or peer support person, i.e. more social support.

Negative attitudes linked to all measures

The study shows a significant relationship between managers' own attitudes to mental illness and all three types of measures. Higher levels of negative managerial attitudes were accompanied by lower levels of action in all groups.

Negative attitudes in the organization as a whole and among managerial colleagues were followed by a lower degree of action focused on work or environmental adaptation. For the second type of measure, expert resources such as occupational health services, only negative attitudes among managerial colleagues were followed by less use. Managers' use of the third and more social type of action was negatively affected by all three types of organizational attitudes.

Depending on the type of action and among whom the attitudes existed, between 5 and 16 percent of the meetings in the study, between managers and fictitious employees, ended in no action due to negative attitudes towards mental illness. Here, surrounding attitudes were slightly more important than the manager's own.

The study is part of the project “Managers in action - The importance of organizational and workplace context in managers' measures for employees with common mental illness, in the private sector”. The project has been funded by Afa Insurance's R&D program “Living and working with mental illness”.