Despite a fear of repercussions, more adults are recognizing 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 recognize.

ComPsych Corp., a provider of employee mental-health programs and absence management services, encourages its business clients to make the well-being 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,” said Jennifer Birdsall, the senior clinical director at ComPsych. “We just have had this barrage of change and uncertainty.”

Read: Survey finds four in 10 employees have taken mental-health leave

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.

A mental-health leave can last weeks or months. In some cases, workers get approval to work a reduced schedule or to take short periods of time off when needed, using an approach called intermittent leave.

A social stigma around mental-health challenges causes many people to avoid seeking treatment or requesting a leave of absence. Newton Cheng, director of health and performance at Google, hopes to change that by sharing his own struggles.

His first self-disclosure happened during the coronavirus pandemic, when a senior manager invited employees at a meeting to share how they were doing. When it was his turn, Cheng started crying.

Read: Mental-health leaves of absence among U.S. workers up 22% in Q1 2024: report

He explained he was struggling to live up to his expectations of himself as a father and didn’t know how to turn things around.

“It was just totally horrifying to me because, one, I had just cried in front of my coworkers and I was definitely taught as a professional — and as a man — you do not do that,” Cheng recalled. “And then, two, I had never really articulated and said out loud those words. I hadn’t even allowed myself to think that. But now they’re out there and I had to face them.”

Colleagues responded by relaying their own struggles, but Cheng’s difficulties continued. By February 2021, he couldn’t get out of bed because he felt paralyzed by dread, he said. A therapist said he was showing symptoms of major depression and anxiety.

“I just realized, ‘I’m struggling a lot and this goes pretty deep. I don’t think I can keep just putting duct tape on this. I probably need to take some leave,’” he recalled.

Read: Report finds women taking 69% of all mental-health leaves of absence

Hoping his decision would benefit others, he announced to 200 people at a conference that he planned to take mental-health leave. Instead of derailing the gathering as he feared, his honesty inspired fellow conference attendees to open up.

“It was like a fireworks show,” Cheng said. “They’re like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe he did that.’ Then they forgot about me. But the tone was set. It was like ’Oh, this is what we’re doing. Let me talk about what’s going on with me, too.’”

While balancing classes and a full-time job during her last year of college, Rosalie Mae began struggling to get out of bed and crying uncontrollably. Yet she felt like she had “to keep it together” to avoid burdening her colleagues at the University of Utah bookstore, where Mae worked as an accounting clerk.

Then she found herself calling a suicide hotline. “Once it reached that point, I knew, especially at the urging of my husband, we need to do something more.” 

Read: 2023 Mental Health Summit: Integrated disability management programs can shorten leave duration

In her case, that meant taking a five-week work leave to put her own health and well-being first. She recommends the same for others who find themselves in a similar position.

“Taking a mental health leave is not necessarily a cure-all, but it is important to give yourself a break and allow yourself to regroup, make a plan of how to proceed and take the steps to work towards feeling better.”

Before broaching the subject of a mental-health leave with a manager, employees should consider the workplace culture and the strength of their professional relationships, Cheng said. “For my health and well-being and the sake of my family and what’s best for the business, the least risky thing for me to do is to go on leave soon.”

Read: Capital One using leave programs to support employee mental health, well-being

Individuals who suspect an unsympathetic reception can simply say, “I need to go on medical leave. I need time to recover,” he advised.

There’s also no legal or ethical requirement for employees to tell colleagues about the nature of their leave.

“Your coworkers don’t need to know why,” said Seth Turner, co-founder of AbsenceSoft, a leave and accommodation management solutions provider. “They just need to know, ‘I’m going to be here at this time, I’m going to be gone at this time and I’ll be back.’”

Read: More than a third of disability claims in 2022 due to mental-health reasons: survey