Employees with mental illness still battle stigma in the workplace
Only one in six employees with mental illness say they feel comfortable disclosing their condition to their manager, according to an online survey conducted by the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag).The results highlighted the extent of workplace stigma about mental illness, said the advocacy group, which released the results of its survey to mark world mental health day tomorrow (October 10).The survey included 499 participants, of whom four fifths (79%) were women. Just under a third of the respondents (29%) said they had not told anyone about their mental health issue.A little over half (56%) of the respondents said they had taken time off work during the previous year due to their mental illness."The results of this study emphasise that more education and training is needed for managers, who may want to help, but they don’t feel well enough trained or equipped to do so," said Sadag founder Zane Wilson.Sadag has previously conducted research on depression and the ...
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