Mental Health days

RobbynR · September 2007

I work for a company that deals in child welfare (child and family
services agency) and the CEO would like to start providing employees
with "mental health days" - in addition to the holidays and sick days
that the employees are currently entitled to. Our vision is to
help the employees cope with the intense stress of their positions,
without reducing their vacation time or using their sick days. Is
there anyone out there who has a policy in place for mental health days
that they would be willing to share?

regdunlop · September 2007

i have never worked at a place that a formal policy, but i worked for a nonprofit org that an informal one. the director of the program had a policy that if you "needed" a day off ... you needed a day off. no questions asked. he just asked that everyone give as much notice as possible.

GoPatsNH · September 2007

I don't have a formal policy either, but I would imagine that you would just work the mental health days into your preexisting PTO policy. I think it's a great idea though...since alot of employees often just use their sick days for days like these.

6281518 · October 2007

Just offer 2 or 3 "personal" days in addition to your regular PTO.

BKate · October 2007

I think everyone needs a mental health day at some point during the year and often they need this time on short notice--using a sick day is reasonable to me so long as it isn't abused. 2 to 3 personal days would work too, so long as the scheduling rules allow for a day off without a lot of notice.

bubbles4u35 · October 2007

I think that adding personal days to the existing PTO is the way to go. Just add it into your existing policy. One of the problems of an informal policy is it can be easy to abuse and if there is no tracking system you open yourself up to accusations of favortism or discrimination.

srallen · October 2007

I would add this to your policy to help prevent abuse of the privilege. You can call them Personal Days, Apple Days, Mental Rest Days, or whatever name you want. I would put it in your current policy so that everyone knows the limits, the guidelines on how much notice you need to give, what approval is needed, how many will be allowed, etc. Most people limit these type of days to 2-3 a year. Given your business, maybe you want to offer 1 per quarter.

RuthG · October 2007

I would suggest a PTO plan where employees can take time off for whatever reason, rather than your current characterization as sick or vacation days. It eliminates your problem and make the accounting easier.

redsoxrule · October 2007

I worked for a large organization that allowed you to use 3 "personal days" a year for "mental health days" etc. This worked out great for everyone involved, and was already incorporated into their PTO plan...I really think it's the best way to go for everyone's sake (both the employee and the employer).

Mental Health days

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