Juggling on a tightrope: Experiences of small and micro business managers responding to employees with mental health difficulties

TY - JOUR

T1 - Juggling on a tightrope

T2 - Experiences of small and micro business managers responding to employees with mental health difficulties

AU - Suter, Jane

AU - Irvine, Annie Louise

AU - Howorth, Carole

N1 - © The Author(s) 2022

PY - 2023/2/1

Y1 - 2023/2/1

N2 - This article presents findings from an in-depth qualitative study focused exclusively on the first-hand experiences of small and micro businesses managers who have responded to employees with mental health difficulties. Despite growing policy focus on workplace mental health, empirical research evidence on management experiences of responding to mental health issues in a small or micro business context is rare. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 21 UK-based small and micro business managers who described 45 individual employee cases, we examine how managers traverse a support-performance continuum, and use a tension-based lens to analyse the tensions that managers experienced. We examine three key tensions for small and micro business managers that surfaced when responding to employees with mental health problems: (1) Individual vs Collective; (2) Confidence vs Caution; (3) Informal vs Formal. Our analysis exposes how managers handle tensions when managing at the nexus of support and performance and contributes a deeper understanding of the dynamics and challenges of managing mental health problems in small and micro businesses.

AB - This article presents findings from an in-depth qualitative study focused exclusively on the first-hand experiences of small and micro businesses managers who have responded to employees with mental health difficulties. Despite growing policy focus on workplace mental health, empirical research evidence on management experiences of responding to mental health issues in a small or micro business context is rare. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 21 UK-based small and micro business managers who described 45 individual employee cases, we examine how managers traverse a support-performance continuum, and use a tension-based lens to analyse the tensions that managers experienced. We examine three key tensions for small and micro business managers that surfaced when responding to employees with mental health problems: (1) Individual vs Collective; (2) Confidence vs Caution; (3) Informal vs Formal. Our analysis exposes how managers handle tensions when managing at the nexus of support and performance and contributes a deeper understanding of the dynamics and challenges of managing mental health problems in small and micro businesses.

KW - human resource management, mental health, occupational health, qualitative research, small and microbusiness

KW - SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

U2 - 10.1177/02662426221084252

DO - 10.1177/02662426221084252

M3 - Article

SN - 0266-2426

VL - 41

SP - 3

EP - 34

JO - International small business journal

JF - International small business journal

IS - 1

ER -