MASKS PEOPLE WEAR IN SOCIETY
Hello #scifimultiverse, hope you are doing great today? Happy Eid el-Kabir.
Mask can be defined as hiding or covering someone’s true identity for either positive or negative reasons. For example, some celebrities do not like revealing many details about themselves, so they mask their identities while in public places for security reasons. In my country of origin, we have a musician who masks himself. He also has reasons for doing that. People can purposely mask themselves for positive or negative reasons.
In this prompt, we are focused on that negative masking. People who are going through turbulent times but are afraid or shy to reveal their true situation for fear of being ridiculed. Most times, these kinds of individuals slip into depression and eventually become suicidal because they are afraid of opening up to people. This is also because of trust issues.
Last year, I noticed a serious change in one employee, all of a sudden, he started coming to work late, underperforming, and absent-minded while on duty. I noticed that on the monthly workforce productivity data insight and called him for a one-to-one discussion. I informed him of my observations, backed by the data I received for the month.
I requested that he open up to me if there is any challenge. I also told him that the management will support him even if it is a financial burden. He smiled and said, “It is well”. I went further and advised him to take some time off duty to rest in case he is stressed. After that discussion, a few days later, the employee got his hand trapped in a machine, but God was faithful, and he was saved. His hand was fractured.
When he was interviewed at the clinic, he revealed that he was troubled and was operating the machine absent-mindedly before the incident happened. After the bone was attended to, he called me a few days later and shared his burden with me. I asked why it took him that long to open up. He responded that he was afraid of being ridiculed and shamed for speaking up. He also said he was not sure that management would provide him with the support needed.
At that point, I encouraged him and asked him to make a formal support request, which I followed up with and got approval for him to clear the children's school fees, which had become a burden of indebtedness to him.
At that point, I opened an online channel where employees can log in and request any form of support, physical, financial, mental, and otherwise. Also, we now have boxes where they can drop requests for help, and my team will reach out to the particular employee for further engagement and support. This worked very well for us and has since reduced the employee’s level of sick leave and absenteeism and improved workforce productivity.
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