Experiences of facilitators and barriers for staying at work with mental health problems

Abstract Background Mental health problems can impact an employee's productivity, job satisfaction, and well-being. Understanding the employee's perspective is essential to support employees with mental health problems to stay at work and the workplace plays an important role in managing mental health problems in relation to work. The aim of this study was to explore how employees in private blue- and pink-collar sectors experienced facilitators of, and barriers to staying at work with mental health problems. Methods The data comprised semi-structured interviews with 18 employees with mental health problems, using reflexive thematic analysis to explore facilitators of, and barriers to, staying at work. Results Three themes were developed through identifying patterns in the data, representing how employees with mental health problems experience stay at work. Facilitators and barriers from the themes were reviewed from a multi-level perspective, with facilitators and barriers found at the individual (e.g. not accessing support at work due to not seeking help), group (e.g. support from colleagues), leader (e.g. support from manager) and organizational levels (e.g. reasonable production goals). Conclusions Employees with mental health problems perceive facilitators of, and barriers to, stay at work at multiple levels in an organization, suggesting that handling these could benefit from a multi-level perspective. Key messages • Understanding facilitators and barriers at multiple levels is crucial for supporting staying at work with mental health problems. • Improving access to support in the workplace could facilitate staying at work.