New research from the Conference Board of Canada indicates employees who would take time off work because of a physical injury are not as likely to take time off work if they have mental-health issues.
The information was reported this week in a 37-page study titled “Why Employees Choose Work Over Wellness — The Links Between Absence Policies, Attendance, and Mental Health”.
The report listed several key findings, including that nearly one-quarter of employees in Canada reported there is "a significant amount of stigmatization around mental health" within their organization or workplace.
"The perception that mental illness was not a legitimate reason for absence was captured in our employee survey that asked participants to indicate the factors that influenced their decision to work despite feeling mentally or physically unwell," said the report.
Another key finding was "most Canadian employees (63 per cent) reported that their decision to work while feeling mentally unwell was influenced by their assumption that feeling mentally unwell wasn’t a good enough reason to take time off.”
"Given this finding, organizations should recognize that employees might under-report mental illness in the workplace, leading to the potential illusion that employees have sufficient workplace supports for mental health when, in fact, they may not," said the report.
Another key finding in the report said most of the employers that were surveyed don’t measure the impact of their absence policies on attendance (80.9 per cent) or on productivity and/or profitability (88.4 per cent).
The report said many employers do not track all medical reasons for time off because of privacy rules. Also, some time off is tracked by employer insurance firms only for those matters covered by group insurance. Other employers try to track the reasons employees are absent, but the information is sparse.
"For instance, 21.6 per cent track absences for child care requirements, while 18.5 per cent track other family obligations. The most commonly tracked reasons for employee absences include bereavement leave, physical illness, and appointments. In many cases, organizations offer specific leave for these types of absences." said the report.
The document also looked at the role of allocated paid sick time.
"Some employers stated that they don’t believe that employees are abusing their sick time and that they trust them to use the time they need. However, several focus group participants noted that by limiting the amount of paid sick time available to employees, their organization has reduced absenteeism," said the report.
"Conversely, our employee survey shows that higher employee-reported absenteeism and presenteeism are associated with receiving less paid time off."
Presenteeism was defined as when employees go to work despite feeling mentally or physically unwell, and will try to try to do their work despite not being fully functional or mentally alert.
The study offered advice for companies that provide only limited paid sick time.
"Low sickness absences can therefore mask potentially serious health risks — for instance, working excessively long hours and refraining from being absent when ill. Managers and employers need to pay close attention to employee health, even when sickness absences are low," said the report.
The full text of the report can be accessed online, but will require signing up through a free registration process.
The Conference Board of Canada is an independent, not-for-profit applied research organization that studies economic, health and social issues in Canada.
Len Gillis covers health care for Sudbury.com.
