In the modern world of work, the “ideal worker” is a pervasive but dangerous concept that can dictate norms and expectations in the workplace. This archetype describes an employee who is infinitely productive, constantly available, and emotionally stable at all times.
What makes this cliché so flawed is that it assumes that workers have no caring responsibilities outside of work, or that they possess unrealistic physical and psychological capabilities. It is intended to drive efficiency, but in reality it is a standard that very few people can achieve. It marginalizes those who deviate from these rigid norms, including workers who manage mental health conditions.
We are management and health researchers, and our recent article found that this “ideal worker” is a means of creating stigma. This stigma is built into processes and policies, creating a measuring stick by which all employees are evaluated.
The study is based on in-depth interviews with a diverse group of employees with mental health conditions (including depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety and OCD). They worked in the private, public and tertiary sectors in various positions, such as accounting, engineering, teaching and senior management.
For workers with mental health conditions, the expectation of emotional stability conflicts with the often fluctuating nature of their conditions.
When organizations are perceived to value the archetype of the ideal worker, they end up creating barriers to meaningful inclusion. In our article we understand them as “barriers to doing” and “barriers to being.”
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This means that workplaces end up with rigid workloads and inflexible expectations (“doing barriers”). As such, they fail to accommodate people with invisible or fluctuating symptoms. They can also undermine the worker’s identity and self-esteem (“barriers to self”), labeling him or her as unreliable or incompetent simply because he or she does not meet the standards of the ideal worker.
Because employees with mental health conditions often fear being perceived as weak, a burden, or fragile, they frequently overwork themselves to prove their worth. This implies that these employees could compromise their rest and disconnection time to live up to work expectations.
But of course, these efforts create tension on a personal level. These workers may end up exposing themselves to a higher risk of relapse or poor health. Our research found that overworking to hide mental health symptoms (working unpaid hours to compensate for times when they feel unwell, for example) may suggest an organizational culture that is not inclusive enough.
What really happens
Human resources practices may assume that mental health conditions should be managed solely by employees, rather than supported by the organization. At the same time, this constant pressure to overachieve can exacerbate mental health conditions, leading to a vicious cycle of stress, burnout, and even more stigma.
The ideal worker norm forces many employees to keep their mental health problems to themselves. They may see hiding their difficulties as a tactical way to protect their professional identity.
In an environment that rewards consistent productivity, disclosing a condition that might require reasonable adjustments could be viewed as a professional risk. In other words, stigma can compromise career opportunities.
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Participants in our research reported lying on health questionnaires or hiding symptoms because the climate in their workplace indicated that mental health conditions were poorly understood. But this secrecy creates a massive emotional toll, as workers feel pressure to constantly monitor their health, hide their condition, and secretly schedule medical appointments.
Paradoxically, while this approach allows people to keep their jobs, it reinforces the structures that demand their silence. And it ensures that workplace support remains invisible or inaccessible.
Our analysis showed a stark contrast between perceptions of support for people with physical disabilities and support for employees with mental health conditions. While physical aids such as ramps are often visible and accepted, workers who expose their mental health needs often face the risk of stigma, ignorance or disbelief.
By clinging to the archetype of the ideal worker, organizations are not only failing to fulfill their duty of care. They could also be undermining their own long-term sustainability if they lose skilled labor. Added to this are the costs of hiring and constant training.
Managing stigma is a workload that can lead to burnout or divert energy from the worker’s main tasks. We suggest a fundamental shift for employers: moving from chasing the “ideal worker” to creating “ideal workplaces” instead. This means challenging the assumption that productivity must be uninterrupted and that emotional stability is a prerequisite for professional value.
It also means focusing on the quality of the employee’s contribution rather than judging their availability or ongoing productivity. And it means designing work environments from the ground up to support diverse needs, so that mental health conditions become normalized. This would reduce the need for employees to keep their conditions secret.
Ultimately, the problem with the ideal worker archetype is that it is a persistent myth that ignores the reality of human diversity. True equity requires that organizations stop trying to mold individuals to fit the mold and instead rethink workplace standards to support all employees, so that everyone can contribute to improving the business.
*Hadar Elraz is a Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior at Swansea University and Jen Remnant is a Chancellor’s Scholar in Work, Employment and Organization at Strathclyde Business School, University of Strathclyde.
This article was originally published by The Conversation
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