Employers' views of the impact of mental health problems on the ability to work.

BACKGROUND: Mental health problems (MHP) are common in working life and can be hard to respond to for employers. Therefore, knowledge of employers' perceptions of employees with MHP is important to support coping efforts of persons and their work environments.

OBJECTIVE: Identify and characterise employers' perceptions of the impact of MHP on work ability.

METHODS: Twelve employers with experience of employees with MHP were interviewed. Data were analysed with a phenomenographic method.

RESULTS: The first main category, "Experiences of employees with MHP", included experiences of diffuse and unexpressed signs of the onset of MHP and frustration among employers and work-mates which was difficult to verbalise. MHP could also be turned off, thus having no impact on work ability. The second main category, "Strategies to handle effects of MHP in the workplace", included the importance of continual responsiveness and communication, and of fluctuating adaptations. The informants expressed diversity in the workplace as a strategy.

CONCLUSIONS: Employers have experiences of, as well as strategies for, how to handle MHP at times when they impact with the ability to work. However, neither experiences nor strategies were explicitly pronounced and verbalised which makes it a challenge to develop strategies and guidelines in workplaces.