Addressing Mental Health at Work: Managerial Interventions to Promote Employee Utilization of Resources

Mental health is becoming a growing crisis in the United States, with significant costs to the workplace. Despite the availability of company-sponsored mental health resources, they are often underutilized. Previous research has established that managers can improve resource usage through active promotion, and self-disclosure can play an important role in challenging stigma. However, existing research focuses on Employee Action Programs (EAPs) rather than a broader set of mental health resources, and self-disclosure literature revolves around employee self-disclosure but ignores manager self-disclosure. To address these gaps, I investigated how manager endorsement and self-disclosure influence resource utilization. I conducted interviews and a study that varied endorsement. I found that there is a relationship between managerial endorsement, perceived quality of the resource, and utilization. Study findings also point to future extensions such as conducting a cost-benefit analysis of self-disclosure, having a control condition in which mental health resources are not mentioned at all, and the effect of regular, active promotion.