This boss’s reaction to a mental health sick day is SO important

This guy gets it.

When Madalyn Parker alerted her work team that she would be out of office for the next few days to focus on her mental health, she probably wasn't expecting to receive such an encouraging message from the CEO of her company. The web developer set her out of office email to explain her absence, saying:

“I’m taking today and tomorrow to focus on my mental health. Hopefully I’ll be back next week refreshed and back to 100%.”

The following day, Madalyn's boss, Ben Congleton, replied directly to the email. He reaffirmed her decision to take sick leave to focus on her mental health, and thanked her for sending the email.

“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 organisations. You are an example to us all, and help cut through the stigma so we can bring our whole selves to work.”

Madalyn tweeted the response, and it wasn't long before the response went viral, reaching almost 14,000 retweets. https://twitter.com/madalynrose/status/880886024725024769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.breakingnews.ie%2Fdiscover%2Fthis-bosss-response-to-an-employees-mental-health-sick-day-has-gone-viral-and-is-a-lesson-to-us-all-797328.html Not only was Ben's response brilliant, but it also highlighted the stigma still associated with mental illness - especially in relation to work. Research conducted by stigma reduction group See Change showed that almost half of the people living in Dublin said they wouldn't feel comfortable working with someone with a mental health issue. Just 58 percent of people said they would be willing to. Ben took the internet himself to speak about his response to Madalyn's email. On Medium, he wrote that he wanted to congratulate his employee's bravery, and her role in helping to normalise mental health issues in the workplace.

"It’s 2017. I cannot believe that it is still controversial to speak about mental health in the workplace when 1 in 6 americans are medicated for mental health."

Ben ended the post by saying that there is still a lot of work to be done.