Employee Emails Boss Explaining She Needs a "Mental Health Day" and the Response has Gone Viral!

The idea of calling in sick to work can cause many people anxiety for fear of how their boss will react. It’s no secret that many employers have a “suck it up” mentality, and unless you are vomiting or confined to a hospital bed, you are expected to come to work.

But when Madalyn Parker – a web developer and engineer at Olark Live Chat – decided to take some time off to focus on her mental health, her boss’ response went viral.

She titled her email ‘Where’s Madalyn?’ and wrote: “I’m taking today and tomorrow to focus on my mental health. Hopefully I’ll be back next week refreshed and back to 100%”

Madalyn’s boss Ben Congleton responded saying: “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.”

Since the post went viral, boss Ben added:
“I had no idea my response would become so visible — the reactions revealed that my stance on mental health in the workplace is unconventional, to say the least. I started realising how impactful [sic] my email had been after I began reading some of the responses to Madalyn’s tweet. Some of the responses brought tears to my eyes. There were so many stories of people wishing they worked at a place where their CEO cared about their health, and so many people congratulating me on doing such a good thing. This should be business as usual. We have a lot of work to do.”

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