Why common job demands are challenging for individuals with mental illness: the interaction of personal vulnerability factors and ableist norms

• Date: 14 July 2023
• Pages: 72-92
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-12-2022-0341
• Published date: 14 July 2023
• Author: Sophie Hennekam,Irena Descubes

Why common job demands

are challenging for individuals

with mental illness: the interaction

of personal vulnerability factors

and ableist norms

Sophie Hennekam

Audencia Business School, Nantes, France, and

Irena Descubes

Marketing Department, Rennes School of Business, Rennes, France

Abstract

Purpose –Drawing on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, this study aims to examine which job

demands individuals with diagnosed mental illness perceive to be most challenging as they navigate the

workplace, why this is the case and which resources individuals tend to mobilize to meet these demands.

Design/methodology/approach –The authors draw on 257 qualitative surveys filled out by individuals

with mental illness in various parts of the world.

Findings –The findings show that job demands that are common in today’s workplace such as a high

workload and a stressful environment are considered challenging by individuals with mental illness. Further,

the authors show that this is the result of the ideal worker norm consisting of the need to be a steadyperformer

that is confident, resilient and social with which the performer cannot comply on the one hand and the

particularities of this population, such as performers’self-perceived low self-esteem, sensitivity to stress,

fluctuating symptoms and difficulties with the social aspects of organizational life on the other hand.

Originality/value –The study points to the unique challenges of individuals with mental illness in the

workplace and highlights the role human resource management (HRM) can play in providing support to allow

this population to meet the demands of one’s job more easily and thrive at work.

Keywords Mental illness, Job-demands resources model, Ideal worker norm, Personal vulnerability factor

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Mental illness, defined as diagnosable psychological disorders that are “characterized by

dysregulation of mood, thought, and/or behavior”(Center for Disease Control and Prevention,

2022) is put forward as an important workplace issue (Follmer and Jones, 2018). According to

the World Health Organization (2022), one person out of eight lives with a mental disorder

worldwide. Despite an increase in the number of individuals who face mental illness

(Weissman et al., 2017), we know little about how those individuals navigate the workplace

(Elraz, 2018) as well as what Human Resources (HR) can do to support this population

(Hennekam et al., 2021a).

It is important to know more about mental illness at work, both from an organization’s

perspective and from the standpoint of individuals with mental illness themselves. For

organizations, a better understanding of the issues individuals with mental illness face at

work is important as mental illness is expensive, both in a direct way through healthcare

expenses as well as in a more indirect way through absences, more mistakes and lower

productivity (Greenberg et al., 2021). Moreover, those costs are likely to increase in the future

EDI

43,1

72

There is no funding, conflict of interest or acknowledgments to report.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-7149.htm

Received 8 December 2022

Revised 22 February 2023

Accepted 25 May 2023

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 43 No. 1, 2024

pp. 72-92

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-12-2022-0341

(Collins et al., 2011). In addition, it is argued that employing individuals with mental illness

leads to an improved organizational culture, enhances the reputation of the organization and

leads to higher levels of loyalty and commitment among employees and customers (Peterson

et al., 2017). For individuals with mental illness themselves, more insights in the factors that

play a role in the way they navigate the workplace might help them to increase their chances

to obtain and maintain employment. This is important as having work structures their lives

and helps them to deal with their condition as well as they can (Boot et al., 2016). Moreover,

it gives them a sense of belonging and purpose (Jackson et al., 2009), helps them to be

financially independent (Niekerk, 2009) and is associated with recovery from serious mental

illness (Dunn et al., 2008).

Previous research shows that individuals with mental illness encounter a range of

challenges as they navigate today’s neoliberal labor market (Hennekam et al., 2023). When

individuals with mental illness conceal their conditions, this leads to misattributions about

their behavior and performance, self-stigma and identity management dynamics, resulting in

labor market inequities such as hiring decisions, performance appraisals and career

development opportunities that are based on inaccurate assumptions and beliefs (Colella and

Santuzzi, 2022). Similarly, when they decide to reveal it, they face issues such as negative

assumptions about their capabilities and the validity of mental illness and are seen as

dangerous. This again results in inequities at work like social shunning and difficulties in

getting workplace accommodations (Colella and Santuzzi, 2022).

Further, there have been calls for more insights on the role HR can play in supporting

individuals with mental illness at work (Hennekam et al., 2021a). Drawing on the Job

Demands-Resources model, this study examines which job demands individuals with

diagnosed mental illness find most challenging as they navigate the workplace, why this is

the case and which resources they tend to mobilize to meet these demands or, in the absence of

resources, which job resources they would consider most useful. We contribute to the existing

body of knowledge in two ways. First, while previous research has pointed to the inequality-

enhancing effects of ableist norms in organizations (Scholz and Ingold, 2020) as well as how

these norms influence how disabled individuals, such as individuals with mental illness, view

themselves or how others perceive them (Jammaers et al., 2016;Richard and Hennekam, 2021),

we do not know how the ideal worker norm, based on ableist assumptions and beliefs, affects

their appraisal of both job demands and job resources. This is important given that one’s

perception of these demands and resources has been associated with burnout, work

engagement, job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, job performance, commitment and

general health outcomes (Bakker and Demerouti, 2017;Brauchli et al., 2015;Demerouti et al.,

2001;Janssen et al., 2004). Second, we answer a call for more research on the role of personal

resources (Grover et al., 2018) and more specifically personal vulnerability factors (Schaufeli

and Taris, 2014) in the way job demands and resources are appraised.

We formulate the following research questions.

(1) Which job demands perceive individuals with diagnosed mental illness most

challenging as they navigate the workplace and why is this the case?

(2) Which resources do individuals with mental illness tend to mobilize or would like to

have to meet these demands?

The JD-R lens allows us to uncover which aspects or characteristics of work this population

may find difficult to deal with and why this is the case by showing how the appraisal of job

demands and job resources is the result of the interaction of the ideal worker norm and the

personal vulnerability factors of individuals with mental illness. Finally, the article provides

useful insights for human resource management (HRM) to create a more inclusive workplace

for this population that is often side-lined, overlooked or stigmatized in the context of work.

Job demands

and mental

illness

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