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This paper aims to outline the extent and cost of work‐related mental ill health and the challenges it causes in the workplace. It focuses on what employers can do to facilitate an early return to work for those absent from work. It argues for a proactive approach to the management of mental ill health in the workplace and highlights the important role of the line manager. Good practice from Europe is reported.

This paper reviews evidence from the HSE, EU_OSHA and IOSH.

Rather than only dealing reactively with cases of mental ill health in the workplace, it is more effective for an employer to adopt a proactive approach, recognising that employees are a valuable asset, assessing psychosocial risks and promoting health and wellbeing. This involves not only protecting their employees from work‐related health and safety risks, but also helping employees with minor conditions to stay at work, for example, by negotiating flexible hours. Employees also need opportunities to look after their own health and wellbeing at work. Finally, it is important to create a culture where working with a mental health condition is accepted by other employees as normal.

The paper highlights the importance of a proactive management approach to managing mental ill health.

Mental ill-health among construction project professionals (CPPs) is a significant, persistent and unresolved problem that sparked the proliferation of literature worldwide. Despite the diverse research publications, a systematic review to reveal forms of mental ill-health, cause of mental ill-health and coping is lacking.

This paper aims to systematically reviews the existing body of knowledge on mental health in the construction project by analyzing 60 papers published between 1989 and 2020 (years inclusive) using the preferred reporting item for systematic reviews and meta-analysis. Academic journals between 1989 and 2020 were selected for this study because the first published paper on the mental health of construction managers commenced in 1989 and current studies are published in 2020.

The findings show that stress, job burnout, depression, anxiety and substance use disorder (SUD) are prominent forms of mental ill-health among CPPs, with an absence of project-related measuring scales for evaluating the mental ill-health symptoms. Moreover, generic stressors including long working hours, time pressure and work overload were used to establish the root causes of mental ill-health by ignoring construction project related stressors for mental ill-health. Problem-focused coping is more efficient than emotional focused coping in mitigating work stress, job burnout, depression, anxiety, but little is known on the influence of coping strategies on SUD. Knowledge gaps and future research directions were identified. This research contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the implications of mental health management on construction projects.

The findings of this study contribute toward understanding the need to investigate individual mental ill-health as against the existing practices of considering all forms of mental ill-health as one umbrella. It also challenges limitations in the utilization of generic stressors to determines factors for mental ill-health by the introduction of the Swisse cheese theoretical model.

This study aims to review how the mental ill-health of academic staff is regarded in higher education institutions (HEIs) and explore the decision to disclose (or not) a mental health condition whilst working in this sector.

The choice to disclose is explored by using duoethnography undertaken by two female academics working in this context who both experience mental ill-health. Both authors recorded their experiences, which were then shared with each other and analysed using thematic analysis.

The themes that emerged from the authors’ reflections comprise: a discussion of the connection between work-life identities and the impact of mental ill-health in the workplace; a consideration of the elements that influence our decision to disclose (or not) mental health diagnoses within HEI; and an examination of the additional burden of identity work for those who experience mental ill-health.

The study contributes to this evidence base by exploring the choice to disclose a mental health diagnosis in HEIs. It investigates this highly personal decision and suggests that this choice depends on the context in which we are located and how we experience our different identities in the workplace. Furthermore, it highlights the importance for HEIs to develop positive employment practices to support academic staff with mental ill-health to disclose a mental health condition and to achieve a good workplace environment whilst emphasising the need for more empirical work to explore the decision to disclose (or not) in this sector.

The purpose of this study is to introduce the concept of work‐related health attributions and investigate the effects of such perceptions as well as of health status on work‐related attitudes and turnover intentions.

Building on attribution theory, the study tests the assumption that negative work‐related health attributions impair employee work‐related attitudes and intentions, and moderate the relation between health status and work‐related attitudes. Cross‐sectional questionnaire data from 785 Swedish retail white‐collar workers are collected to test these assumptions by utilizing moderated regression analyses.

The results show that negative work‐related health attributions are related to lower levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment as well as higher levels of turnover intention, even after controlling for demographics, work climate variables, and mental distress. Further, the significant interaction between attributions and mental distress indicates that it makes a difference for employees' turnover intentions if an individual with high mental distress attributes it to work or not.

Work‐related health attributions should be taken into account in order to avoid impaired levels of employee work motivation. The measure introduced renders it possible to identify and help those individuals who believe that work affects their health negatively.

The results underscore the relevance of how individuals think their health is affected by their work, and contributes to the understanding of how health status relates to work‐related attitudes. Since the measure of work‐related health attributions is easily administered it is also valuable for practitioners working with employee health and attitudes.

Many studies have shown that an unfavourable psychosocial environment increases the risk of mental and physical illness, as well as absenteeism, or sickness absence. However, more costly than absenteeism is presenteeism, where a person is present at work even though disabled by a mental or physical illness. We sought to identify factors explaining why workers would come to work even when their health is impaired. In a cross‐sectional design data were collected from 3825 employees of a Canadian organisation. The results show a high occurrence of presenteeism: workers went to work in spite of illness 50% of the time. Presenteeism propensity (the percentage of days worked while ill over total number of sick days) was higher for workers who were ill more often. Heavier workloads, higher skill discretion, harmonious relationships with colleagues, role conflict and precarious job status increased presenteeism, but decision authority did not. Workers reporting high psychological distress and more severe psychosomatic complaints were also more likely to report higher rates of presenteeism. These results suggest that stress research should not only include absenteeism as an outcome indicator, but also consider presenteeism.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the gaps between experienced working conditions (WCs) and the perceived importance of these conditions in relation to subjective health in Swedish public sector workplaces.

In total, 379 employees answered questions concerning WCs and health. Nine WC areas were created to measure the gap between the experienced WCs and the perceived importance of each condition. These WC areas were: physical work environment, social relationships, communication, leadership, job control, recognition, self-development, workplace culture and work/life satisfaction. Subjective health was measured using mental ill health, well-being and general health.

The results indicated relatively large gaps in all nine WC areas. Leadership, physical work environment and work/life satisfaction in particular seemed to be problematic areas with relatively large gaps, meaning that employees have negative experiences of these areas while perceiving these areas as very important. Additionally, all WC areas were significantly related to subjective health, especially regarding mental ill health and well-being; the larger the gaps, the worse the subjective health. The WC areas of work/life satisfaction, self-development, social relationships, communication and recognition had the highest relationships and model fits. This indicates that it is most problematic from an employee’s point of view if there are large gaps within these WC areas.

This study improves the understanding of workplace health by exploring the gap between experienced WCs and the perceived importance of these conditions.

The aim of this study is to examine gender and age correlates of job satisfaction and to test the relationship between job satisfaction and subjective mental and physical health in a sample of sales managers.

Survey of 200 employees holding the managers' positions (105 men and 95 women) in sales' organizations across the biggest Lithuania's cities were conducted. Job satisfaction was assessed by 20‐item Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire developed by Weiss, Davis, England and Lofquist in 1967. Subjective health was assessed by questions measuring subjective physical health, and the 12‐item General Health Questionnaire developed by Goldberg (1970). Correlation analysis was used to test the relationship between job satisfaction and subjective health.

The study results demonstrate that men sales managers, as compared to women, had higher scores on overall extrinsic job satisfaction. Younger men managers were less satisfied with their job in general and social service and achievement in particular (intrinsic satisfaction). Sales managers with higher education (n=139) were more satisfied with responsibility (3.64±0.75 vs 3.25±0.80, respectively) and creativity (3.76±0.87 vs 3.43±0.95, respectively) levels in organization, as compared to managers having other than higher education (n=61). No distinct gender‐related differences were seen regarding managers' subjective health. Our research supports general findings in literature, relating lower job satisfaction scores with worse health. Worse subjective mental health was related to dissatisfaction with independence, variety, social status, ability utilization, and working conditions. Worse subjective mental health among women managers was related to dissatisfaction with independence, activity, variety, social status, moral values, and compensation, and satisfaction with authority level. Women sales managers, unlike men managers, with better subjective physical health were more satisfied with variety, moral values, social service, and responsibility.

Nonprobability sampling does not allow larger generalizations. Small sample size restricted the analysis of the constructs more deeply. Groups, used for data analysis, were not adjusted by age, education, work experience, etc. Methods used in the study are still under adaptation. Reporting bias because of social desirability effects was not studied in this research as well.

Job satisfaction plays an important role in peoples' lives and is an important research topic of human resource management having both theoretical and practical implications. Understanding the impact of job facets upon satisfaction with work can initiate positive changes in organizations, which could improve working conditions of employees, resulting in lower turnover, absenteeism, and higher organizational commitment – healthy workers in a healthy organization.

The research contributes to job satisfaction literature by providing empirical findings regarding the relationship between job satisfaction and subjective health.

Mental health conditions such as depression are prevalent in working adults, costly to employers, and have implications for legal liability and corporate social responsibility. Managers play an important role in determining how employees’ and organizations’ interests are reconciled in situations involving employee mental ill-health issues. The purpose of this paper is to explore these situations from the perspective of managers in order to develop theory and inform practice in workplace mental health promotion.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 Australian managers who had supervised an employee with a mental health issue. Interview transcripts were content analyzed to explore themes in managers’ experiences.

Managing an employee with a mental health issue involves becoming aware of the issue, taking action to understand the situation and develop an action response, implementing the response and managing the ongoing situation. Each of these tasks had a range of positive and negative aspects to them, e.g., managing the situation can be experienced as both a source of stress for the manager but also as an opportunity to develop greater management skills.

Understanding line managers’ experiences is critical to successful implementation of HR policies regarding employee health and well-being. HR strategies for dealing with employee mental health issues need to consider implementation support for managers, including promotion of guiding policies, training, emotional support and creating a psychosocial safety climate in their work units or teams.

The insights gained from this study contribute to the body of knowledge regarding psychosocial safety climate, an emergent theoretical framework concerned with values, attitudes and philosophy regarding worker psychological health. The findings also have important implications for strategic human resource management approaches to managing mental health in the workplace.

Construction tradesmen are exposed to high levels of stress that can worsen mental health, negatively impacting safety compliance and organization productivity. Hence, effectively coping with stress to prevent mental ill-health becomes an essential point of reference. Thus, this study aims to examine the role of factors such as resilience and coping strategies in protecting tradesmen against mental ill-health.

Using a cross-sectional survey design, 110 tradesmen from 65 construction companies were surveyed using the Patient Health Questionnaire, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Brief Resilience Scale and Ways of Coping Questionnaire.

The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis. With a 74.5%, 36.4% and 14.6% prevalence rate of self-reported depression, anxiety and suicide ideation among the tradesmen, only positive reappraisal, accepting responsibility coping behaviors and resilience would mitigate the likelihood of developing mental ill-health symptoms.

This study has extended existing literature by providing information vital to building interventions to deal with stressors effectively. This information would benefit individuals, organizations and the economy and equip policymakers with a deeper knowledge base toward improving mental health.

Over recent years there have been massive changes in working life and workplaces. Across the 1990s there has been a marked increase in reports of work‐related psychological distress in the UK. This paper uses the results of the most recent Occupational Health Decennial supplement (Office for National Statistics (ONS) & Health and Safety Executive (HSE), 2007), based on nationally representative data sources on distress at work, working conditions, sickness absence and psychiatric morbidity to examine the reasons for the apparent increase in work‐related psychological distress.