Should you give your employees a day off for mental health?
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Mental health is as important as physical health. You wouldn’t say no to an employee asking for a day off if they had the flu, right? So why are we still so reluctant to treat mental health as important as physical health?
I know, there are a lot of issues when it comes to talking about mental health. People who suffer from mental health issues are still fighting stigma and have problems expressing their problems and needs in public. They are afraid of being overlooked or not employed if they talk about their issues openly, because no one wants a ‘crazy’ employee. They are regularly portrayed as people who tend to do irrational or illegal things in media (even though these portrayals are largely incorrect or based on assumptions). The lack of open dialogue in the public discourse, in general, makes it hard to talk about these things, and the subject is still treated as a taboo.
But mental health issues most of the time means anxiety, burnout, panic attacks, ADHD… And these issues make it impossible for people to perform well in a regular workplace.
One study found that the most common mental health issues in the workplace are depression and anxiety, as well as stress. Even though stress is not classed as a medical condition, the researchers say it can have a serious impact on wellbeing.
Other, rarer mental health issues that can be found in a working situation are schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
For someone coping with, let’s say, anxiety, something as trivial and unimportant as forgetting the attachment to an email or being a bit late to turn in a task is so much bigger and suffocating that it is hard to work with a clear head. And all of it can be helped with the correct treatment, help, and solidarity from coworkers and managers.
Sure, there will always be the argument of financial costs. One employee less is complicating things and costing the company even for a few days. Making mental health care available to them is really expensive. Group therapy — even more so. But what about completely losing an employee cause they feel it is too much? What if they have burnout and you lose an employee for months? What if their mental health is making their physical shape suffer too? As dehumanizing as it is on itself, your budget projection should keep that in mind too. In the long run, it is far more expensive to lose an employee, than to allow them to take a few days off.
Another legitimate reason is productivity and efficiency. A mentally unhealthy employee is probably going to have a hard time focusing even on simple tasks. It really is much worse to overtire an employee and create an unsafe and unbalanced environment for them than to let them have some time to figure it out.
The same ACAS study found 57% of sufferers find it harder to manage several tasks, 80% find it hard to focus, and 62% take longer to complete tasks.
Businesses are legally obligated to provide a healthy and safe environment for their workers. For someone, that probably also means an understanding of their situation and solidarity for their fight to solve it.
Another thing any company should create for its employees is a safe space for people to express their specific needs. That doesn’t mean that everyone in the office should know that an employee has anxiety or panic attacks. But it means that whoever is in charge of medical leaves and team management should not judge about it if the employee chooses to tell them the exact reason they are taking a leave. A business built on trust and respect is more valuable than anything. Solidarity and consideration are invaluable to a person that might fight their own demons.
What I want to say with all these arguments is — we spend a third of the day in the office. We spend more time in the office than we do at home. We should feel comfortable sharing our issues without them becoming a double burden. We should be in an environment that doesn’t make us feel pressured.
What can you do to help your employees if you’re a manager?
If you are managing a team, you are the first person your employees should be able to express their issue to. Make sure you are approachable and respectful of their needs and personal problems. Encourage them to talk to you if they feel the need to.
This is also a situation in which you can’t act the same with every employee. Someone might be a bit more closed up and shy, while another employee might be easy to talk to and not have an issue with talking about their mental health.
Monitor their scope of work and the amount of work they take care of. If you see lagging or issues with coping with work they were used to having daily, ask them if everything is alright and if they have some kind of problem. Set up realistic targets and priorities.
If you can afford it, offer your employee a mental health plan.
And of course, read about the subject and try to be knowledgeable. You should be able to at least respond accordingly and know when to intervene.
Things happen outside of the office, and we can’t always control how that reflects on our jobs. I know, you should keep your private life private, and not let it shape your performance in the workplace. But we don’t have an OFF switch. We are not machines.
So my conclusion is: yes, you should give your employees days off for mental health. It might mean more sick leaves and less productivity, but a person who has struggled or still struggles with mental health issues will really appreciate it and will value that flexibility, trust, and solidarity more than anything. And a few days off to clear their mind and get back in shape are sometimes key for the same person to save themselves from burnout or a panic attack.
Isn’t it better to be able to tell your manager what your problem is, and how they can help you solve it, and ultimately, save them an employee and save you your job? Isn’t pretending that something is happening to you physically and feeling guilty for doing that because you couldn’t bear to get out of bed today childish, inappropriate and ineffective?
We are a long way from mental health days being the standard policy, but I for one can’t wait for that to happen. Still, I am glad that we are at least having this discussion lately.
