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Employee Benefits: A New Perk for the Broken Hearted
Written by: Donna FlaggArticle Overview: Hime & Co., a Japanese company founded by 37-year-old Miki Hiradate offers employees paid time off to heal from a broken heart. Aside from being a welcome and humane approach to management, it also makes good business sense to give people a little space to recover from the loss of a failed relationship, because in the end, they are going to take the time anyway.
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Employee Benefits: A New Perk for the Broken Hearted
I was surprised when I heard someone scoff at the idea of providing employees with “heartbreak leave,” which is a concept being introduced by a Japanese company called Hime & Co. Its founder, Miki Hiradate, decided to give employees paid time off to mourn and/or heal from a break up. As far as I’m concerned it’s a no-brainer. First of all, break ups make people sick anyway. So let’s start there. Over the years, I have had countless employees “call out” to deal with the emotion, tears, upset and depression resulting from the loss of a relationship. It makes perfect sense to give people a little space to recover and bounce back from a broken heart, because in the end, they are going to take it anyway.
Meanwhile, why not take advantage of an opportunity to work with employees rather than against them and create a better employer/employee relationship by extending this kind of compassion and support? It certainly is humane and I would say bound to generate a healthier, more productive and committed workforce. Frankly, I don’t think it’s any different from bereavement leave on one end of the time-off philosophy scale and honeymoon leave on the other.
What I don’t get is how Hiradate came up with the allocation of time by age. A young woman in her early 20’s can take one day, in her late 20’s she gets two days and a thirty-something is entitled to three days. Now, what the policy doesn’t seem to cover is what happens after 40. But even so, like many other things, the devil is in the details and I’m afraid that this is where it all falls apart.
Imposing the degree to which a human being suffers by age, is ludicrous. It’s no one’s call for example, to decide that a younger person’s pain requires less than an older person (and we’re only talking about a few years difference here). It depends on the person and the relationship. Divorce, puppy love, first love or the love of a lifetime – loss is loss and it hurts like hell no matter what. She’d be better off giving everyone two days, lower the risk of being misunderstood and/or out of touch and maximize the psychological benefits of the perk.
My other concern is the uniquely feminine nature of “shitsuren kyuka,” otherwise known as time off to fix a broken heart. Granted, Hime & Co. is exclusively made up of women, but I’d hate to see this catch on as a “girl thing.” Guys deserve to lick their wounds too. I guess I needn’t worry too much should it makes it’s way to the United States because before we’d even have the chance to shed a tear, we’d be in the courts looking at both age and gender discrimination suits.
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Article Tags: break ups, employee benefits, personal leave, relationships at work, romance problems, romantic policies, sick time
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About the Author: Donna Flagg RSS for Donna's articles - Visit Donna's website  Donna Flagg spent over 15 years in business before founding The Krysalis Group, a consulting firm specializing in management, marketing, training and sales and their respective relationships to business results. Her management career began in sales at CHANEL, and before branching out on her own, she spearheaded a new training function within the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs. After earning a BA from Rutgers University and gaining experience on the front lines of Corporate America, Donna went on to attend New York University's Graduate School of Education where she obtained a master's degree in Organizational Development and Human Resource Management, and a post graduate degree in Business Education. She has also been a speaker at City University of New York (CUNY) and New York University through Stern Business School and Delta Pi Epsilon, a national honorary professional graduate society in business education and training. In addition, she speaks at various conferences including those conducted by The Business Leadership Network and The Conference Board, where she was also on the advisory committee for the Enterprise Learning Strategies Conference. For her communications expertise, Donna was invited to be a host at the Liz Claiborne Leadership Offsite to discuss branding during their "Progressive Dinner" event and more recently, a speaker at the Inc. Leadership Conference in Dallas, TX. Donna is the author of Surviving Dreaded Conversations and is blogger on Pyschology Today and The Huffington Post. She is frequently featured in the press for her workplace expertise in outlets including CNBC, the New York Times, WOR, and XM Satellite Radio. Donna currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Randy Foye Foundation where she actively participates in its mission to assist children and families in Newark, NJ. Click here to visit Donna's website   HR Departments Need Business Acumen Too Sales Training 101 How to Handle Discrimination Claims Creating Healthy Work Environments HR Department Basic Functions |
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