The toll on mental health has been high indeed, with Malaysia seeing a sharp increase in the number of suicide cases.
While there are many reasons that leads to a mental breakdown and other mental health issues, one of the most important ways to take care of ourselves is by taking a break. Some companies understand this and even give their staff paid leaves.
MyBurgerLab customers, take note
One of the companies that became the talk of the town when it decided to give its staff a break is local brand myBurgerLab Malaysia.The brand said it will forgo profitability for five days this month to take care of its employees well-being and mental health.
MyBurgerLab co-founder Renyi in a Facebook post said, all stores nationwide will be closed from July 26 till July 30.
“This month, we would like to raise a Mental Health Awareness Red Flag. We were all thrown into a pressure cooker with no release valve.
“From a business perspective, without dine-in as an option, all sales through our delivery partners means that we are channelling all profits to them due to the commission structure,” he wrote.
He also said that the team was mentally defeated especially with the current soaring cases.
“Honestly, we are mentally defeated.
“For the last 483 days since the first lockdown, we persevered and held on, but enough is enough.
“In the last five to six weeks, we observed cracks within our organization and even the toughest of us find it hard to hold our heads up on the best of days.”
He added that they fought on during the first lockdown and managed to survive with the support from friends and family.
Renyi revealed that they also adapted by changing protocols, and even manage expectations of impatient riders and customers.
“For 483 days, the Marketing and PR team worked tirelessly to attend to all social media interactions, create fun and relevant content, address PR disasters, and are constantly on the phone fielding queries everyday-day-and-night.
“For 483 days, the central kitchen worked everyday to ensure the stores had a constant supply of high quality ingredients to meet with the sales demand.
“For 483 days, the human resource team had to address staff shortage issues, Covid close-contact tracing and quarantine, mental health issues among some employees while dealing with roadblocks.”
Responding to requests from netizens for the stores to remain open for business, he said its employees were important at this point of time.
“It’s not that we can afford to close. It’s that we can’t afford to lose our people,” the statement read.
Stay strong myBurgerLab Malaysia! We hope more employers will learn from the company on how to treat their staff.