If you are managing a group with 10 people diagnosed with a mental health disorder, chances are good that at least four of them won't share that information with you.
A study by Canada's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health found this 40 percent factor in a wide-ranging look at mental health and the workplace.
"Stigma is a barrier to people seeking help. Yet by getting treatment, it would benefit the worker and the workplace, and minimize productivity loss," said Dr. Carolyn Dewa, head of CAMH's Centre for Research on Employment and Workplace Health and leader of the rsearch team. "The manager's position is so important, and it's really important to invest in training them."
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The Centre gleaned input from some 2,200 working adults in the province of Ontario.
Among the reasons cited for their reluctance to share such information:
- Fear that their career with suffer;
- Fear of losing friends at work;
- A negative response received previously by a co-worker who shared their mental health diagnosis.
Workers were asked whether they would be concerned if they knew they were working with people who did not share mental health issues at work. Of the 64 percent who said they would be, half said they would want to help a co-worker and obviously couldn't if they didn't know about their diagnosis.
Another 40 percent said they would be concerned about that person's reliability and also their own safety under such circumstances. Another 20 percent said they would like to know so they wouldn't risk making their coworker's condition more serious.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
