The social organization of workplace mental health: local and translocal ruling relations

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to make visible the ways in which peoples’ experiences of mental ill health are coordinated and produced in the workplace setting. Design/methodology/approach This institutional ethnography draws from data collected from 16 informants in one Canadian industrial manufacturing plant to explicate how texts organize activities and align worker consciousness and actions with company expectations of a “bona fide” illness. Findings The findings demonstrate how a “bona fide” illness is textually mediated by biomedical and physical work restrictions, thus creating a significant disjuncture between an experiential and ruling perspective of mental ill health. Research limitations/implications The work of employees living with self-reported depression becomes organized locally and translocally around the discourse of “mental illness is an illness like any other.” This presents a profound disjuncture between the embodied experience of being too unwell to mentally perform work duties, and the textually coordinated practices of what it means to access sick time for a “bona fide illness” within a biomedical-based attendance management protocol. Originality/value The current study adds to the literature by shedding light on the disjuncture created between the embodied experience of mental health issues and the ruling perspective of what constitutes a bona fide illness, adding a unique focus on how people’s use of attendance management-related supports in the workplace.