Ask a Boss: Should You Tell Work You Need Mental
The Cut • • health
Key Points:
- In health-care-adjacent workplaces with generous leave policies, employees typically notify their team when taking a sick day without needing to justify the reason.
- Younger employees, especially zoomers, often specify "mental-health day" when calling in sick, which some managers view as oversharing or unprofessional.
- While normalizing mental health care is positive, specifying mental-health reasons can lead to ambiguity about the employee's condition and affect workplace dynamics or expectations.
- Managers should encourage employees to know they are not required to disclose specific health details and can simply state they are taking a sick day to maintain privacy and professionalism.
- Due to ongoing stigma around mental health, advising employees to keep explanations vague protects their privacy without discouraging mental health awareness or support.