Sir, – It is positive that Ibec director of policy Brendan Butler identifies (Home News, August 25) health education and wellness programmes as playing an important role in managing absence. We agree that it is not enough to frame reduced levels of absence in purely economic terms.
Mental health problems – and the stigma associated with disclosure in the workplace – is a significant cause of absenteeism, and not one that can or should be remedied with punitive policies. If employees feel that they are likely to suffer an economic or social cost as a result of open and honest disclosure of a mental health problem in the workplace, then it follows that such employees are likely to take more time off in an effort to conceal the difficulties that they face.
Our own research found very troubling attitudes towards mental health in the workplace. We found that 48 per cent would conceal a diagnosis from a co-worker and 47 per cent believe that a diagnosis would harm job prospects. While depression is the most prevalent health problem in many EU states, many workplaces struggle or fail to implement progressive, mutually beneficial policies to support employees who are unwell or going through a tough time.
Mismanagement, stigma and ignorance of mental health problems are a direct result of fear and misunderstanding. While one in four of us will experience a mental health problem at some point in our lives, the vast majority do recover and participate fully in our social and economic life. See Change is working with organisations such as Ibec and employers’ unions to develop progressive and standardised workplace policies to support people experiencing mental health difficulties. Many human stories lie behind economic statistics, it is through facilitating the full participation of all employees – regardless of mental health difficulties – that we will have a meaningful impact on absenteeism in the future. – Yours, etc,