Rajveer Brar
200409269
Professor Jed LaCoste
English 100 L07
Essay #3
Topic #1
December 5, 2018
The Impacts of Mental Health in the Workplace
In the article “Bridging the Gap: Workplace Mental Health Research in Canada” by Jennifer K.
Dimoff and E. Kevin Kelloway they explain how employee mental has become one of Canadas
most widespread and costly job-related health issues (Dimoff, 203) which is also shown through
the story “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” by Herman Melville. Both the article
and the story show evidence to suggest that poor employee mental health has an impact on the
workplace and that more attention needs to be brought upon the mental health of Canadians
(Dimoff, 203 & 209) so that researchers can understand mental health better and come up with
effective solutions to these illnesses.
In “Bartleby the Scrivener” every time Bartleby is asked to do something by his employer, he
responds with “I prefer not to” (Melville, 53). The other employees start to notice that Bartleby
refuses to be a team player, which makes them question their employer’s authority. In the
article Baba says that “poor employee mental has also been associated with some less
qualifiable, yet remarkably costly, human consequences, such as reduced productivity,
suboptimal performance, and low job satisfaction” (Baba qtd. in Dimoff, 203-204). This is shown
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through “Bartleby the Scrivener” because as the story goes on Bartleby starts to do less and less
work until he complete stop doing work and just stares out the office window looking at a wall
all day long. So, because of mental health issues employees are unable to work to their full
potential and as a result, they produce low quality work.
The impacts of mental health in the workplace could be reduced if more attention was
brought upon the issue. According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), more
attention needs to be drawn towards the mental health of Canadians (MHCC qtd. in Dimoff,
209). MHCC also says that along with Canadians promoting positive mental health in everyday
settings, they also need to beg organizations to create the best possible mentally healthy
workplace for employees. In “Bartleby the Scrivener” non-of the characters in the story seem to
notice that Bartleby might be suffering from a mental illness. The characters in the story seem
to miss the signs that Bartleby shows, that would suggest that he has a mental illness. Some of
the signs he shows are not eating, not communicating with any of his coworkers, and refusing
to follow simple instructions. For example, when his employer says, “the time has come; you
must quit this place; I am sorry for you; here is money; but you must go” (Melville, 62). Bartleby
is clearly told to quit his job and leave but he does not do so. Eventually, Bartleby’s employer
concludes that Bartleby is not going anywhere so he decides to move his offices to a completely
new building. Due to the lack of attention towards metal health employers are often unable to
see that their employee needs help and that they are not choosing to underperform, it is a
mental illness that they cannot control.
Another thing that needs to be done to improve mental health in the workplace is more
research on the issue. Hugentobler says that “through action research, which requires multiple
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sources of information and encourages the integration of theory and practice, researchers will
be better able to develop, implement, and evaluate workplace mental health strategies
(Hugentobler qtd. in Dimoff, 208). In “Bartleby the Scrivener” if Bartleby’s employer had had
more knowledge about mental health issues, he would have been able to handle the situation
with Bartleby in a better manner. Since he lacked this knowledge, he couldn’t handle Bartleby
the way he should have been handled. His employer says that Bartleby is the case of his
troubles because he refuses to move from the building which where Bartleby’s employer had
his offices (Melville, 68). He tried to get Bartleby to go home with him and not sit around the
old offices. When Bartleby refused, he was sent to prison where he died from starvation which
was part of his mental illness. Both the article and story suggest that with more research and
knowledge of the workplace and be made safe for employees who suffer from mental illnesses.
Overall both the article and story try to send the same message across to the reader which is
that mental health in the workplace doesn’t just affect the person who has the mental illness it
affects everyone around him or her as well. For example, in “Bartleby the Scrivener” when
Bartleby refuses to go over his work with the employer the other two employees must do it and
this upsets them because they are doing someone else’s work. Also, employers need to educate
themselves on mental health issues, so the can be of better help to their employees and
understand what is going on instead of misunderstanding what is happening.
The article and the story show evidence to suggest that poor employee mental health has an
impact on the workplace and that more attention needs to be brought upon the mental health
of Canadians (Dimoff, 203 & 209) so that researchers can understand mental health better and
come up with effective solutions to these illnesses. Both the article “Bridging the Gap:
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Workplace Mental Health Research in Canada” by Jennifer K. Dimoff and E. Kevin Kelloway and
story “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” by Herman Melville show that mental
health needs to be taken more seriously and that employers need a better understanding of
what mental health is so that he can help their employees and notice when they are suffering
from a mental illness.
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Work Sited
Dimoff, K. Jennifer and Kelloway, E. Kevin “Bridging the Gap: Workplace Mental Health
Research in Canada.” Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne, 2013, Vol.54(4),
pp.203-212
Herman, Melville. “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of wall street.” Elements of Literature. 5th
Canadian ed. Robert Scholes, Nancy Comley, Carl Claus, and David Staines. Don Mills:
Oxford UP, 2015. 47-72. Print.