Linked: Mental health widely seen as a barrier to career progression

I could see this being true, because we know there is a lot of stigma surrounding mental health issues in the workplace:

“New research from recruitment agency Hays claims that nearly a quarter (24 percent) of those who have or have experienced a mental health condition feel they do not have equal access to the same career progression opportunities as other colleagues. Similarly, 12 percent of those who have had or experienced mental ill health said they felt this had led to their chances of being selected for a job being lowered.”

So, right off the bat, we can assume that for many folks who need help, they may not be willing to get it, due to the perception that it’s going to hurt them at work. Is that perception always the reality? I don’t know, but experience tells me it probably is most of the time.

Secondly, we are limiting the people we’ll keep, and promote to only those who are either not dealing with a mental health issue, or hide it very well. Which could lead to some serious issues down the road. Especially if you consider the recent finding in this study:

The research follows findings from the Hays Quarterly Insights Report which suggested that over half (53 percent) of professionals said support had become more important to them since lockdown, with less than half (47 percent) rating their wellbeing as positive.”

If you’re not comfortable promoting, or even hiring, people who admit to having current, or past, mental health issues, you might start running out of qualified workers pretty quickly. And, even among those who haven’t had any diagnosed issues, the fact that you don’t seem to care about the wellbeing of your employees is not going to encourage all of us who do take this seriously to come work for you. Be careful what you wish for.

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