Mental Health Days Taken for the Family

“A sad soul can kill you quicker than a germ.”

John Steinbeck

An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.  Mental illnesses are medical conditions that disrupt a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others, and daily functioning. Serious mental illnesses include major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and borderline personality disorder.

The firm CCH in their 2007 Unscheduled Absence Survey discovered that only 34% of employees who call in sick due so because of true physical problems. The other 66% are likely dealing with child care, eldercare, or other family problems that require us to skip out of work for all or part of a day. In fact, a national Stress in America survey (September 2007) of 1,848 people done by the American Psychological Association suggested that 31% of all employees report significant difficulty balancing work and family responsibilities.

The CCH survey revealed the top reasons to take a “mental health day” including:

• Family or relationship issue (30%)
• Work stress (20%)
• Personal/Legal issue (15%)
• Fatigue/Burnout (12%)
• Lack of Motivation (5%)

(Note: 18% reported not taking any mental health days)

Employees who experienced bullying at work (persistent criticisms by one’s manager or coworkers and being belittled) creates stronger negative emotions and reasons to want to take time off from work than even sexual harassment.  Sandy Hershcovis, Ph.D. from the University of Manitoba recently reviewed over 21 studies over 21 years and found that employees who experienced bullying at work reported more job stress, less satisfaction and higher levels of anxiety and anger leading to emotional and physical fatigue–all great reasons to want to skip out of work to find more supportive and energizing environments and people.  It’s not enough to be stretched with familiy responsibilties but to come to work and feel emotionally abused as well.

Of course, there are a large number of stressed employees who practice the habit of going to work sick instead of staying home (called “presenteeism”) whether they have been bullied at work or find work and life balance a chronic challenge.

In a recent study of 3,800 employees by Caroline Bine who is a doctoral student in the UK, 74% reported heading into the office “under the weather” at least once during the year.  The top reasons for coming in sick included:

• Workload/Deadlines (31%)
• Professionalism/Guilt (28%)

She found that employees who have strong relationships with others at work tended to be the ones most likely to come to work to share their illness with others. 

If all these studies are making you crazy, at least you should take comfort that you are pretty typical.  I wonder what retirees do when they feel stressed or bullied at home?  Be well….
 

[tags]absenteeism, presenteeism, mental health, employee wellness, health promotion, stress, engagement, productivity, Kenneth Nowack, ken Nowack, Nowack, Envisia, Envisia Learning [/tags]

Ken Nowack

Kenneth Nowack, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist (PSY13758) and President & Chief Research Officer/Co-Founder of Envisia Learning, is a member of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. Ken also serves as the Associate Editor of Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research. His recent book Clueless: Coaching People Who Just Don’t Get It is available for free for a limited time by signing up for free blog updates (Learn more at our website)