Remarkable CEO Response to Employee Request for Mental Health Day
Have you ever felt the need to take time off for a mental health difficulty but feared the response from your boss so you just called in sick? Usually, when we ask for a sick day, it is due to a physical illness, such as a cold or severe allergy. While mental health issues are often just as serious we are hesitant to ask for the day off because there are usually no sick days for emotional problems. Even when there are, frequently we still won’t call in and ask to take the day for something mentally health related.
However, the communication of one employee and her boss recently went viral for calling attention to this problem. The woman Madelyn Parker, age 26, is a software developer in Ann Arbor Michigan, working for Olark, a live-chat platform that helps businesses communicate with customers. It is a relatively small firm with about 40 employees.
Parker had been experiencing several nights of insomnia and was having suicidal thoughts. She suffers from chronic depression and anxiety, which had built up to a point she didn’t feel she’d be effective in her position without some time off for herself. She decided to take two sick days, and explained the reasons for doing so to her team. In an email she said she was taking the time to “focus on my mental health.”
