Asking for work adjustments or initiating behavioural changes – what makes a ‘problematic co-worker’ score Brownie points? An experimental study on the reactions towards colleagues with a personality disorder

Abstract

People with mental disorders, especially personality disorders, often face low acceptance at work. This is particularly problematic when returning to work after sick leave, because it impedes reintegration into the former workplace. This study explores colleagues’ reactions towards a problematic worker dependent on the returning person’s reintegration strategy: The returning person undertaking changes in their behaviour is compared with the person requesting adjustments of the workplace. In an experimental study, 188 employed persons read one of four vignettes that described a return-to-work-situation of a problematic co-worker. Across all vignettes, the co-worker was depicted as having previously caused problems in the work team. In the first vignette, the co-worker did not change anything (control condition) when she returned to work; in the second, she asked for workplace adjustments; in the third vignette she initiated efforts to change her own behaviour; and the fourth vignette combined both workplace adjustments and behavioural change. Study participants were asked for their reactions towards the problematic co-worker. Vignettes that included a behavioural change evoked more positive reactions towards the co-worker than vignettes without any behavioural change. Asking for workplace adjustments alone did not yield more positive reactions compared to not initiating any change. When preparing employees with interactional problems for their return to work, it is not effective to only instruct them on their statutory entitlement for workplace adjustments. Instead, it is advisable to encourage them to proactively strive for behaviour changes.

Keywords:

• Workplace
• personality disorders
• mental health
• sick leave
• acceptance
• social distance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Variables included in the exploratory regression analysis were age, gender, being affected by a mental disorder oneself, Factor 1 (behavioural changes), Factor 2 (workplace-adjustments), and the Big Five. R² = .143, p = .004, n = 173.