Being kind goes a long way in not just being empathetic, but also in keeping employees retained. Everyone, at some point, will face issues that will drag on their performance. I hope I’m extended the same grace eventually.
> As your co-worker or manager, I don't need to know
That came off harsh, particularly when I said "as a manager", but the key word there is need.
I mean that we shouldn't feel compelled to justify why we need to take advantage of our already unlimited PTO - particularly laterally, to teammates - and that not revealing those details should be the default.
Confiding in a manager, mentor, close work friend, and definitely to HR is fine.
But encouraging and thereby creating an expectation of oversharing across all levels just seems like a recipe for disaster.
A likely end result being employees resenting one another for taking time off for reasons they don't think are "serious" enough, or feeling like their need or desire to take time off is unjustified because their personal situation isn't bad compared to their co-workers'. And people who don't want to share now feel antisocial for trying to keep their personal and work lives separate.
If we want to normalize the act of taking time off, imo we'd be better served if everyone just took their PTO without explanation and let HR handle coordinating extended time off for life events.