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Comment by uncletaco | Hacker News Reader

Same. Also several months of medical leave for burnout sounds very generous.

It's a government thing, my workplace had no say in the matter as long as my GP said I needed it.

Even if your employer 'had no say in the matter', it is still generous. Somebody had to pay for that medical leave whether it came out of the profits of the company you work for, their insurance company (which leads to higher premiums for everyone), or came out of the taxpayer's pocket.

It sounds like you could benefit from a completely different environment. If you can't find any joy working in your chosen field, it might be time to explore a completely different field. Many people have switched careers because of this.

I don't consider it generous, it's a basic right of workers that anyone in my country is entitled to should they need it. It's part of the social safety net and every worker pays into it should they need it.

I felt extremely guilty having to use it myself and beat myself up for it so much early on, but in the end it was the right thing to do.

> If you can't find any joy working in your chosen field, it might be time to explore a completely different field. Many people have switched careers because of this.

I agree.

You should absolutely not feel guilty for using sick leave. We all pay into it, either through taxes or lower salary in case we need it. The stigma regarding mental health absolutely should stop, as mental health is health.

Some of the commenters on here should hang their heads in shame.

Taking humanity out of the equation, sick leave makes economic sense as it allows people to recuperate and get back to work, rather than having to find a permanent replacement.

However, it sounds like you are still sick, and therefore you should go back on sick leave. Both to protect your income and your health. Don’t make a martyr out of yourself, it won’t serve any purpose.

As you haven’t really mentioned specifics (that I have seen yet), it seems that the working environment did this to you, so the company does have a responsibility to you. As such, I wouldn’t feel guilty at all about continuing to draw a salary from them while getting better for the damage they caused.

On one hand you don't consider is generous On other hand you feel guilty about it. I think you should make up your mind. Maybe the burnout will also go away then

I felt guilty about it, past tense.

> Even if your employer 'had no say in the matter', it is still generous. Somebody had to pay for that medical leave whether it came out of the profits of the company you work for, their insurance company (which leads to higher premiums for everyone), or came out of the taxpayer's pocket.

Workers "pay" for it by having on average a bit lower wages in said country, then they could have had otherwise.

It's just like any other country wide or industry wide constraint companies can do little about avoiding, and have to price in somehow somewhere or not operate at all.

Generosity is a weird concept to apply for mandated things.

>or came out of the taxpayer's pocket.

...you mean like... theirs? Same energy as someone who screams about paying a teachers salary with their taxes - teachers pay taxes too dog.

What a guilt trip; you should be ashamed of yourself (and, frankly, you should probably also keep your US-centric thinking, which is entirely divorced from the rest of the civilized world on such matters, to yourself).

The shame.

May I please ask which country? I'm in Europe and I don't have this privilege in my country. Maybe I should move.

That's standard procedure here in Sweden.

Jealous. I need this because I've been burned out for like a year doing bare minimum and overeating

Have you considered that overeating is possibly exacerbating your issues? I had serious brain fog/energy issues until I stopped being overweight.

I don’t think they’re overeating voluntarily. It’s often a vicious cycle.

I can relate to this.

Before the pandemic I was really good at presenting and running workshops with groups. Then after work from home and with the gyms closed I put on 12kg pretty quickly. It changed my whole attitude and made me very insecure to the point where I never stood up in those groups. Someone else quickly moved into that role and I never regained that position and confidence I once enjoyed. I've been a bit of a shell at work ever since. Because I'd turned myself into a background character I no longer cared too much about my appearance and didn't get better.

Sometimes just focusing on the basics is so important. Yes maybe it's a shallow position from me but I've never been overweight and it hit me right in the identity and flowed on to the rest of my life. I'm happy to say I went for a run yesterday and am trying to overcome this.

For sure, but the point is that breaking that cycle is sometimes the single most important thing to focus on.

I feel moderately well off and COULD take several months off but it could not be comfortable. I'd almost rather put in lower effort at a job and continue to get paid than have months of no income where I'm pulling from savings.

Common if you work for FAANG

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