How managers support capacity to work in employees experiencing common mental disorders: a focus group study

To explore Swedish managers' support for employees with reduced capacity to work due to common mental disorders (CMDs). Specifically, we aimed to explore (a) how managers become aware of employees experiencing CMDs, and (b) managers' strategies in supporting those employees.

Managers from public and private sectors (n = 31) participated in 8 focus group interviews. We used inductive thematic analysis and we used storylines in presenting the analysis to synthesize and illustrate the participants' experiences.

The analysis resulted in six themes, indicating that managers find out about CMDs through attentiveness to various sources of information, and they support employees' capacity to work through self-reflective, communicative, relation-oriented, accommodating, and psychosocial strategies. The storylines were as follows: The employee I know is not there, I have to trust my judgment, Playing the amateur psychologist, Keeping the employee in mind, Acting on individual needs, and Keeping the group together.

Managers need knowledge about how the early signs of CMDs can be expressed to be able to provide support to employees with CMDs. Changes in capacity to work can be one such indication. Managers support employees with CMDs through a variety of strategies, despite varying levels of knowledge and experience.