The uncommon leave more and more workers are taking
'I felt a knot in my throat,' Lasso said. 'My head, it felt like it was inside a bubble. I couldn't hear, I couldn't see, and it felt like an eternity. It was just a few seconds, but it was so profound, and in a way earth-shattering to me.'
Lasso was struggling after a cross-country move followed by a divorce. Her boss suggested a mental health leave, a possibility she didn't know existed. She worried whether taking time off would affect how her team viewed her or cost her a future promotion, but in the end she did.
'I'm thankful for that opportunity to take the time to heal,' Lasso, 43, said. 'Many people feel guilty when they take a leave of absence when it's mental health-related ... There is some extra weight that we carry on our shoulders, as if it had been our fault.'
Despite a fear of repercussions, more adults are recognising that stepping back from work to deal with emotional burdens or psychological conditions that get in the way of their lives is a necessary choice, one that a growing number of employers recognise.
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ComPsych Corp, a provider of employee mental health programs and absence management services, encourages its business clients to make the wellbeing of workers a priority before individuals get to a breaking point while also having processes in place for those who require leaves of absence.
'Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, collectively we've just been in this constant state of turmoil,' Jennifer Birdsall, the senior clinical director at ComPysch, said. 'We just have had this barrage of change and uncertainty.'
Depression, anxiety and adjustment disorder, which involves excessive reactions to stress, were the top three diagnoses of employees who took mental health leaves in the past two years among clients of Alight, a Chicago-based technology company which administers leaves and benefits for large employers.
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