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> The bar for taking a sick day is getting lower... > For one, more workers are using up sick time often for reasons such as mental health. It's sad that we'r

> The bar for taking a sick day is getting lower... > For one, more workers are using up sick time often for reasons such as mental health. It's sad that we're still so far from viewing mental health as any where near as "real" as other physical health issues (because after all, ultimately mental health is physical). People are visibly under greater mental stress than anytime I can recall in my working career, it's a good thing if more people are taking time to care for this. Imagine if the article had subtly criticized people for taking more time off to address cardio health or kidney health, it would sound completely ridiculous.

bluefishinit 3y ago
As a boss, I encourage anyone on my team to take time off whenever they need it for mental health or stress reasons. I also tell them that they do not need to tell me or any other team members the reason behind why they're taking time off. Privacy and trust are important. I also make all team meetings optional. If you're not feeling it, don't show up. This has a two fold effect of keeping people well rested/motivated and not having negative energy in meetings from people who'd rather not be there. This has resulted in a very high performing team. Well rested, trusted, not burnt out. Comfort leads to creativity.
SamuelAdams 3y ago
Society at large is doing this to themselves. Let me explain: It’s currently popular to post about mental health issues on social media, like TikTok and Instagram. People dramatize their issues for views and likes and attention. So, you have a lot of people “self-diagnosing” mental health issues that aren’t actually clinical disorders. This leads to people not perceiving mental health as a serious issue. Instead, people are abusing the “mental health” status to get what they want: leniency, time off, an easier workload, what have you. This distracts from people who actually have clinically-diagnosed mental health issues. It weakens their arguments when an actually diagnosed person needs assistance, like a day off. So the immediate fix for this is to have a physicians note or similar for every mental health day that you need. The hope is that doctors (an impartial third party authority) would sufficiently diagnose someone’s mental health. They can separate between the actually afflicted and the “I just want an excuse / easy life” crowd. Although if you chat with MD’s about this topic, diagnosing mental health is hard so that isn’t a silver bullet either. The other thing that society can do: stop romanticizing mental health. Stop posting about it on social media for likes and attention. Get validation and attention from some other aspect of your life, like playing an instrument or doing something well.
- 2devnull 3y ago
  I wonder if thinking more about this might make you not post that?
  - ragingrobot 3y ago
    About using mental illness as a way of gaining sympathy/popularity? Unfortunately I have to agree with the parent, it does seem to be true. In my own experience: my niece never mentioned depression until she saw videos about it on TikTok. Then she was always moody, and constantly stating "I'm depressed, but therapy is expensive. Can you give me money? Don't you feel bad for me?" I see people walking around with T-shirts advertising they suffer from depression. I don't know if social media and exposure has brought the correct view of mental illness to light.
    - 2devnull 3y ago
      “Although if you chat with MD’s about this topic, diagnosing mental health is hard so that isn’t a silver bullet either.” What are they going to give people a quick blood test for depression? “This person has depression today, they can stay home.” Neither you nor the parent understand what the term “mental health” means. You don’t catch stress or anxiety or schizophrenia like you catch a cold. It can only ever be self-reported because that’s what it is, by definition. If there were an underlying physical condition it would be reclassified as “health” rather than “mental health” as we do for autism, stroke victims, those with brain injuries, basically any mental health problem that can be reliably diagnosed by an MD ceases to be “mental health”
    - kcplate 3y ago
      > About using mental illness as a way of gaining sympathy/popularity. Unfortunately I have to agree with the parent, it does seem to be true. I see this too. I know people with real mental health issues that cripple them and I know people who like to use “mental health day” as a fad excuse du jour to just take a day off because “they don’t feel like working today”. The people I know with the real, crippling mental health issues generally don’t get over it in an afternoon of watching movies and being lazy—it’s usually days and weeks of agony. So in my mind if people are using mental health just as an excuse to take a day off they are definitely doing damage to those folks who actually suffer from crippling mental illness by minimizing what it really is…because if Sally can sort out her mental issues by binge watching a show on Netflix in an afternoon, why can’t Frank get over his inability to get out of bed for three days by doing the same thing?

bluefishinit 3y ago

As a boss, I encourage anyone on my team to take time off whenever they need it for mental health or stress reasons. I also tell them that they do not need to tell me or any other team members the reason behind why they're taking time off. Privacy and trust are important. I also make all team meetings optional. If you're not feeling it, don't show up. This has a two fold effect of keeping people well rested/motivated and not having negative energy in meetings from people who'd rather not be there. This has resulted in a very high performing team. Well rested, trusted, not burnt out. Comfort leads to creativity.

SamuelAdams 3y ago

Society at large is doing this to themselves. Let me explain: It’s currently popular to post about mental health issues on social media, like TikTok and Instagram. People dramatize their issues for views and likes and attention. So, you have a lot of people “self-diagnosing” mental health issues that aren’t actually clinical disorders. This leads to people not perceiving mental health as a serious issue. Instead, people are abusing the “mental health” status to get what they want: leniency, time off, an easier workload, what have you. This distracts from people who actually have clinically-diagnosed mental health issues. It weakens their arguments when an actually diagnosed person needs assistance, like a day off. So the immediate fix for this is to have a physicians note or similar for every mental health day that you need. The hope is that doctors (an impartial third party authority) would sufficiently diagnose someone’s mental health. They can separate between the actually afflicted and the “I just want an excuse / easy life” crowd. Although if you chat with MD’s about this topic, diagnosing mental health is hard so that isn’t a silver bullet either. The other thing that society can do: stop romanticizing mental health. Stop posting about it on social media for likes and attention. Get validation and attention from some other aspect of your life, like playing an instrument or doing something well.

2devnull 3y ago
I wonder if thinking more about this might make you not post that?
- ragingrobot 3y ago
  About using mental illness as a way of gaining sympathy/popularity? Unfortunately I have to agree with the parent, it does seem to be true. In my own experience: my niece never mentioned depression until she saw videos about it on TikTok. Then she was always moody, and constantly stating "I'm depressed, but therapy is expensive. Can you give me money? Don't you feel bad for me?" I see people walking around with T-shirts advertising they suffer from depression. I don't know if social media and exposure has brought the correct view of mental illness to light.
  - 2devnull 3y ago
    “Although if you chat with MD’s about this topic, diagnosing mental health is hard so that isn’t a silver bullet either.” What are they going to give people a quick blood test for depression? “This person has depression today, they can stay home.” Neither you nor the parent understand what the term “mental health” means. You don’t catch stress or anxiety or schizophrenia like you catch a cold. It can only ever be self-reported because that’s what it is, by definition. If there were an underlying physical condition it would be reclassified as “health” rather than “mental health” as we do for autism, stroke victims, those with brain injuries, basically any mental health problem that can be reliably diagnosed by an MD ceases to be “mental health”
  - kcplate 3y ago
    > About using mental illness as a way of gaining sympathy/popularity. Unfortunately I have to agree with the parent, it does seem to be true. I see this too. I know people with real mental health issues that cripple them and I know people who like to use “mental health day” as a fad excuse du jour to just take a day off because “they don’t feel like working today”. The people I know with the real, crippling mental health issues generally don’t get over it in an afternoon of watching movies and being lazy—it’s usually days and weeks of agony. So in my mind if people are using mental health just as an excuse to take a day off they are definitely doing damage to those folks who actually suffer from crippling mental illness by minimizing what it really is…because if Sally can sort out her mental issues by binge watching a show on Netflix in an afternoon, why can’t Frank get over his inability to get out of bed for three days by doing the same thing?