Given the prevalence of and consequences associated with mental illness in the workplace, we believe this review is both critical and timely for researchers and practitioners. This systematic review broadens the extant literature in both theoretical and practical ways in an effort to help lay a foundation for the organizational scholarship of employees with mental illness, a group that has traditionally been underrepresented in the management and industrial-organizational psychology literatures. After defining and conceptualizing mental illness as a social identity, we systematically review the existing empirical research on employees with mental illness across multiple fields of study. Using research that accounts for individual, other, and organizational perspectives, we present a model that outlines the performance, employment, career, and discriminatory outcomes that characterize the experiences of individuals with mental illness as well as individual and organizational strategies that moderate the relationship between having a mental illness and experiencing those outcomes. Together, this article provides a synthesis of what is known about employees with mental illness while also highlighting avenues for future scholarly attention.

Summary This review focuses on the disclosure decisions faced by employees with concealable stigmatized identities—one of the most challenging decisions these individuals must make on a day‐to‐day basis. Indeed, multiple theoretical frameworks have provided a foundation for understanding the antecedents and outcomes associated with the decision to disclose or not to disclose a stigmatized identity. What is less clear, however, is the extent to which these frameworks have been empirically supported. This systematic review serves to unify the extant literature and prompt continued research related to employees with concealable stigmatized identities. Specifically, we draw upon multiple fields of study, including applied psychology, management, social psychology, and occupational health as a means to systematically synthesize the existing empirical research related to disclosure of stigmatized identities at work. In addition to advancing the scholarly knowledge of disclosure, this review also provides practical utility to organizations as they continue to create work environments that foster inclusion of all stigmatized and nonstigmatized employees.

Mental illness is increasingly prevalent among employees, but little is known about how these individuals are perceived at work. Using the stereotype content model as a framework, we investigated warmth and competence stereotypes associated with employees with anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. Employees with these disorders were perceived to be low in warmth and competence, and stereotypes about individuals with anxiety were relatively more positive than those with depression or bipolar. This study also proposed and tested the extent to which stereotypes predicted work‐related social distancing intentions. We found that two characteristics moderated this relationship: gender and social dominance orientation. We discuss practical and theoretical implications as they pertain to improving the experiences and well‐being of employees with mental illness.

Although organizational scholars have long been interested in employees' wellbeing and occupational health, less work has focused specifically on suicide behaviors among employees. This dearth of research is concerning given that individuals spend a significant portion of their waking hours at work, and suicide deaths among American workers are on the rise. To encourage the study of work and suicide with the intent of ultimately reducing mortality, we first provide a theoretical framework that incorporates two eminent theories of suicide: interpersonalpsychological theory of suicide and psychache theory of suicide. We then report the findings of an interdisciplinary systematic literature review that offers an overview of current research related to work and suicide, including antecedent, mediating, and moderating effects. The results of our systematic literature review are presented via the lens of our theoretical framework, supporting that it is an appropriate perspective to understand the relation of work and suicide. Finally, we conclude by identifying avenues for continued research on the interplay between work and suicide, again incorporating these research directions into our theoretical framework. Together, our manuscript integrates multiple domains of research, while addressing a timely and critical public health crisis that stems, in part, from employees' workplace experiences.

This multi‐method study examined disclosure decisions made by employees with depression as well as their motives for those decisions. In Study 1, we conducted in‐depth interviews with employees who had been diagnosed with depression to better understand why they chose to disclose or conceal their depression at work. Based on the results of the interviews, both approach and avoid motives for disclosure and concealment emerged in the analysis. Further, these motives were influenced by multiple organizational factors including social support, stigma, and diversity climate. In Study 2, we developed and validated a scale to measure approach and avoid motives for disclosure and concealement. In Study 3, we tested approach and avoid motives as mediators of the relationships between organizational factors and employee outcomes (i.e., engagement and presenteeism). We tested our model among 223 working adults with depression. Our results provided support for the hypothesized relationships among those who disclosed but not those who concealed, suggesting that when employees disclosed for approach reasons they were more likely to be engaged, and when they disclosed for avoid reasons they were more likely to engage in presenteeism. These findings provide both theoretical and practical contributions to the study of concealable identity management and to employees with mental illness.