the relationship between sex, gender, and workplace accommodations among workers with mental health disorders
abstract
in 2022, over 5 million canadians (18%) reported having a mood, anxiety, or substance
use disorder over the last 12 months (stephenson, 2023). these disorders can be attributed to
environmental, physiological, genetic, chemical, and social influences. globally, mental health
disorders have been projected to cost the economy $16.1 trillion usd in lost productivity
between 2010 and 2030, while also being a main contributor to noncommunicable disabilityadjusted life years lost (bloom et al., 2011). these economic costs underestimate the full extent
of the human suffering experienced by individuals and their families due to mental illness.
workplace accommodations are essential to support individuals with mental health
disorders. almost 40% of employees aged 25-64 with mental health and/or physical disabilities
require workplace accommodations. of these, women have a higher unmet need for
accommodations than men, in addition to requiring more accommodations than men (morris,
2019). accommodations for mental health disorders are critical in helping employees cope with
transient or temporary mental health issues, resulting in longer job tenure, being able to work
more hours, and remain employed (chow, cichocki, & croft, 2014; mcdowell & fossey, 2015;
zafar, rotenberg, & rudnick, 2019). these accommodations often include flexible work
arrangements, job duty modifications, job coaching, feedback from supervisors, and gradual
return to work (bastien & corbière, 2019; corbière, villotti, lecomte, bond, & goldner, 2014;
mcdowell & fossey, 2015; villotti et al., 2017; zafar et al., 2019). [...]