CEO who praised an employee for taking two mental health days earns viral fame

A CEO has earned praise for his extremely supportive response to an employee who asked to take two days off to focus on her mental health.

Web developer Madalyn Parker, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, commended her boss for his understanding behaviour on Twitter last month. She shared screenshots of their email conversation, in which she told their team she was taking two days of leave for mental health purposes.

In his response, Ben Congleton, the CEO of Olark Live Chat where Parker works, thanked her for sending messages such as this one and praised her for providing reminders that using sick days for mental health is important.