A Woman Requested Time Off for Mental Health and Got the Perfect Response From Her Boss
Even with society's increasingly open mind set to mental illness, broaching the topic at work can still be nerve-wracking and awkward.
So when we hear a story about someone who is brave enough to open up about their mental state at work, we can't help but feel encouraged.
Madalyn Parker recently shared such a story both in praise of her sympathetic employer and to help others alleviate some of the fear they may be feeling about asking for a day off due to mental health, Stylist.co.uk reports.
The web developer and engineer tweeted an exchange between herself and boss Ben Congleton after she emailed him to explain that she needed some time away from the office to take care of herself.
"I'm taking today and tomorrow to focus on my mental health," Madalyn writes. "Hopefully I'll be back next week refreshed and back to 100%."
When the CEO responds to your out of the office email about taking sick leave for mental health and reaffirms your decision. 💯 pic.twitter.com/6BvJVCJJFq
— madalyn (@madalynrose) June 30, 2017
And Congleton's response was better than we ever expected:
"I just wanted to personally thank you for sending emails like this. Every time you do, I use it as a reminder of the importance of using sick days for mental health – I can't believe this is not standard practice at all organizations. You are an example to us all, and help cut through the stigma so we can bring our whole selves to work."
The exchange has amassed over 30,000 likes on Twitter as well as around 8,000 retweets so far causing Congleton to contemplate about the impact his simply reply has had on social media.
In an essay published on Medium, he reflects: "As executives, we lead organizations made up of people who've come together to make an impact. Our job is to empower and motivate our teams to maximize the impact of our organization for our customers, our employees, our shareholders, and the world."
He also called upon employers everywhere to help in creating a safe-space for workers by "think[ing] of one acting [they] could take to help [their] teammates feel safe."
We think a big virtual round of applause is in order.
From: Red
You Might Also Like
