When thinking about mental health, you might not think about the workplace. That’s because for decades there has been a stigma around mental health. This stigma has led to many people keeping their mental health journeys private, oftentimes resulting in shame and isolation.
And while today mental health has become less stigmatized, unfortunately mental health discrimination still occurs. And one place this discrimination can be particularly impactful is in the workplace.
This is why it’s important for leaders to not only prioritize their employees’ mental health but also be able to see and fight examples of mental health discrimination at work.
Discussing mental health discrimination at work may raise the question – how prevalent is this type of discrimination. Unfortunately, discrimination accusations are on the rise.
According to newly released statistics from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, about 30% of ADA charges in 2021 were related to mental health discrimination. That’s an increase of 20% from 2010.
Anxiety and PTSD are the leading conditions contributing to that trend, accounting for nearly 60% of all mental health discrimination charges in 2021. Depression and bipolar disorder charges were up nearly 8% and 3%, respectively.
Mental health discrimination isn’t always obvious to an outsider. Sometimes discrimination can even be unintentional, but it doesn’t make it any less impactful to the receiver of the discrimination. This is why it’s crucial for leaders to learn about discrimination and be able to address it when it happens.
First, we need to establish the difference between the types of discrimination.
It’s clear to see why it’s important for leaders and managers to learn about mental health. Doing so will help fight against bias and discrimination in the workplace.
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It’s one thing to know that mental health discrimination occurs and the types that exist. But it’s a different story to be able to spot examples of mental health discrimination at work.
Here, we’ll give real-life examples of the types of mental health discrimination that can arise at work.
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Mental health discrimination can take many forms and occur in any area of a person’s life. Here, we discuss mental health discrimination at work and highlight examples of direct and indirect discrimination as well as disability discrimination.
Examples of mental health discrimination include mocking an employee for going to therapy or taking medication for their mental health; requiring someone to take a night shift even though their medication makes them excessively drowsy; or punishing a person for missing work due to their mental health.
Signs of mental health discrimination include:
Watching for examples of mental health discrimination at work is something that will take constant time and effort. But building a healthy work culture is the first step to ensuring discrimination is unlikely.
Also encourage HR leaders to send out communications about mental health. These resources can include encouragement for employees to discuss their disabilities, challenges, or struggles with their HR department and manager. Be sure to include this as part of the onboarding process to help support from day one.
Terryberry provides solutions to help build a healthy, accepting work culture through effective employee engagement. These solutions include:
Ready to learn more? Schedule a demo with our team to get a hands-on walkthrough of how Terryberry can transform the culture of your workplace.