In the trendy world of labor, the “ideal worker” is a dominant but dangerous concept that may dictate workplace norms and expectations. This archetype describes an worker who is amazingly productive, consistently available, and emotionally stable in any respect times.
What makes this trope so flawed is that it assumes that staff don't have any obligation to care outside of labor, or have unrealistic physical and psychological capabilities. It's meant to drive performance, but in point of fact it's an ordinary few can reach. It marginalizes those that deviate from these strict standards, including staff managing mental health conditions.
We are management and health researchers, and our recent paper found that this “ideal worker” is a resource Creating a stigma. This stigma is embedded in processes and policies, making a yardstick against which all employees are measured.
The study is predicated on in-depth interviews with a various group of employees with mental health conditions (including depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety and OCD). He has worked in various jobs within the private, public and third sectors, including accounting, engineering, teaching and senior management.
For staff with mental health conditions, the expectation of emotional stability conflicts with the usually volatile nature of their conditions.
When organizations are seen to value employee ideals, they could be lost Creating barriers For meaningful inclusion. In our paper we consider these as each “barriers to doing” and “barriers to being”.
This implies that workplaces find yourself with heavy workloads and complicated expectations (“barriers to doing”). Thus, they fail to accommodate individuals with latent or fluctuating symptoms. They also can damage a employee's identity and self-worth (“barriers to existence”), and label them as untrustworthy or incompetent because they don't meet the standards of the best employee.
Because employees with mental health conditions are sometimes perceived as weak, burdened, or fragile, they often work harder than needed to prove their price. This implies that these employees may compromise their rest and leisure time to be able to meet workplace expectations.
But after all, these efforts create stress on a private level. These staff may put themselves at greater risk of relapse or poor health. Our research suggests that overworking to mask mental health symptoms (for instance, working unpaid hours to make up for after they should not sick) may suggest an organizational culture that will not be inclusive enough.
What is admittedly happening?
HR practices may assume that mental health conditions ought to be managed by the staff themselves reasonably than supported by the organization. At the identical time, this constant pressure to over-perform can exacerbate mental health conditions, resulting in a vicious cycle of stress, exhaustion and much more stigma.
The ideal employee routine forces many employees to maintain their mental health situation to themselves. They may even see hiding their struggles as a tactical way of protecting their skilled identity.
In an environment that rewards consistent productivity, disclosing a condition which will require appropriate adjustments could also be viewed as an occupational hazard. In other words, stigma can compromise profession prospects.
Participants in our research reported lying on health questionnaires or hiding symptoms since the climate of their workplace indicated that mental health conditions were perceived as poor. But this secrecy created an enormous emotional burden, as staff felt pressured to continuously monitor their health, mask their condition and secretly schedule medical appointments.
Ironically, while this approach allows people to stay employed, it reinforces the structures that demand their silence. And it ensures that workplace support stays hidden or inaccessible.
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Our evaluation revealed a stark contrast between perceptions of support for individuals with physical disabilities and for workers with mental health conditions. While physical aids corresponding to ramps are sometimes visible and accepted, staff often face the chance of stigma, ignorance or disbelief in determining their mental health needs.
By holding onto the best employee archetype, organizations should not only failing to satisfy their duty of care. If they lose expert labor, they also can damage their long-term sustainability. Then there are the continuing recruitment and training costs.
Managing stigma is a workplace burden that may drain or divert energy from a employee's core tasks. We suggest a fundamental shift for employers: moving away from chasing the “ideal worker” toward creating “ideal workplaces” as an alternative. This means difficult the belief that productivity have to be uninterrupted and that emotional stability is a prerequisite for skilled value.
It also means specializing in the standard of an worker's contribution reasonably than judging their consistent availability or productivity. And which means designing work environments from the bottom as much as support diverse needs, in order that mental health conditions are normalized. This will reduce the necessity for workers to maintain conditions confidential.
Ultimately, the issue with ideal activist archeology is that it's a persistent myth that ignores the truth of human diversity. True equity requires organizations to attempt to shape people to suit the mold and as an alternative revise work rules to support all employees so that everybody can contribute to growing the business.