When Employee Mental Health Deteriorates: Examining the Relationship Between Health-Oriented Leadership, Disclosure,...

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health Psychology
• Organizational Behavior
• Mental Health in the Workplace

Background:

• High prevalence of workplace mental health issues necessitates improved disclosure and reduced sickness absence.
• The health-oriented leadership (HoL) model provides a framework for understanding these dynamics.
• Timely support is crucial for maintaining employee work ability.

Purpose of the Study:

• Examine associations between staff care, disclosure, and sickness absence.
• Investigate the role of staff care during acute health deterioration.
• Analyze leader and employee perspectives on these relationships.

Main Methods:

• Three cross-sectional studies conducted with employees (healthy and with severe mental health issues) and leaders.
• Data collected from N=148 healthy employees, N=338 employees with severe mental health issues, and N=91 leaders.
• Statistical analyses explored relationships and interactions between staff care, health deterioration, disclosure, and sickness absence.

Main Results:

• Staff care consistently correlated positively with disclosure across all samples.
• Staff care negatively related to sickness absence, particularly for employees with severe mental health issues and during acute deterioration.
• A perceptual gap was observed: leaders sometimes expected disclosure from employees with high health deterioration, while employees reported higher concealment intentions.

Conclusions:

• Staff care is vital for promoting disclosure during early health declines and mitigating sickness absence during acute episodes.
• Divergent leader-employee perceptions regarding disclosure can impede timely support.
• Practical recommendations are offered for organizations to improve staff care and support systems.