Americans work more than any other country in the industrialized world. We take less vacation, work longer days, and retire later. A 2016 Bloomberg study found that Americans work 25% more hours than Europeans, which equates to 258 fewer hours per year, or about an hour less each weekday. For those looking to coast, Italy is the place–the Italians put in an average of 29% less hours than Americans, proving carbs slow you down.
Americans work the most, but its not because they are fulfilled in their professions. Less than one-third of Americans are happy with their work, half of the workforce is “checked-out,” and 70% of those currently employed are searching for other jobs, according to Mental Health America.
And, as more studies are finding that the mental health of an employee directly correlates to a company’s bottom line, ‘mental health’ days are being looked at with less scrutiny.
Web developer Madalyn Parker bravely attempted to test her company’s understanding of the needs of its employees and sent an honest email to her entire company saying she was taking mental health days to recharge. Her CEO was chill AF about it.
When the CEO responds to your out of the office email about taking sick leave for mental health and reaffirms your decision. 💯 pic.twitter.com/6BvJVCJJFq
— madalyn (@madalynrose) June 30, 2017
Madalyn works for Olark, a live chat platform that enables businesses to talk to customers browsing their website. CEO Ben Congleton elaborated on his response via Medium:
It’s 2017. We are in a knowledge economy. Our jobs require us to execute at peak mental performance. When an athlete is injured they sit on the bench and recover. Let’s get rid of the idea that somehow the brain is different.
I think I may ask BroBible’s managing editor JCamm for a mental health month. Can’t wait for him to tell me to sit on a cactus.
[h/t Some eCards]