Prioritizing mental health for employees is a positive step, and employers can approach this either informally or formally. Informally, we’ve seen employers approach mental health or “unplug” days in a variety of ways depending on the needs of the business. Some employers have set or prescheduled days where the entire organization or a specific segment of the business is unplugged or off for the day. The benefit of this approach is that the employer can plan for the event and can communicate the closure to its customers.

Another option is to institute “meeting free” days, where employees block their calendars and can focus on projects or work without interruption. For employers that want to include mental health days as part of their “paid time off,” the development of a clear policy outlining eligibility and utilization guidelines should be created. Employers have also seen success allowing employees to select when they will take mental health days. Those employers are typically asking for either a short amount of notice or no advance notice since the purpose of the time off is to allow the employee to access the time when it best suits the employee, and the employee may need the time off immediately. Most employers don’t request documentation since they don’t want to further burden the employee or the company with additional tasks.