Why we suffer from sick day stigma

Why we suffer from sick day stigma

A report from BetterUp Labs claims more than 70% of UK employees have tried to avoid taking time off, despite having mental health concerns, in the past three months.

28% had taken at least one day off during that same period — but more than half of those had claimed their absence was due to a physical illness. At the same time there’s an issue with taking any kind of sick day, as 59% also said they’d worked through a physical form of sickness.

Covering up

Younger employees are more prone to covering up their issues and sticking to their desks. 85% of 18 to 24 year-olds and 78% of 25 to 34 year-olds reported pushing through in spite of mental health worries (compared with under half of the 55 and overs).

Employers need to be doing more to make conversations about mental health more of a normal part of working lives, say the report authors.

“It’s unfortunate that more than half of people who took time off for mental health reasons felt the need to use a different excuse,” says Erin Eatough, Manager of Behavioural Science at BetterUp Labs,  “Mental health is health, and this ‘covering’ behaviour demonstrates that there’s work to be done to normalise both reactive and preventative mental health self-care.”

Opening up

“Just because mental health is now more visible in workplaces and society as a whole, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easier to talk about when it’s you,” says EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell. “Mental illness is still something that we’d like to think only happens to other people.

“That’s why employers have to make it easier to have that initial conversation about individual struggles and situations when it comes to mental wellbeing. Until we admit out loud that we’re not coping it’s still something we can keep locked up, as something to deal with another time.

“EAPs are the most obvious channel for employees to open up: talking in confidence to an independent professional who’s not just a sounding board but someone who can signpost and arrange the most practical next steps.”

Why we suffer from sick day stigma – EAPA UK