Greg Giangrande, Career advice expert Interview

Greg Giangrande joins Mendte in the Morning to talk about mental health days at work and how important they are.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, let's go to Greg G and Grande Career advice Expert.
You can check them out and ask questions on go
to Greg dot com. Greg. We got an interesting talk
back a little bit earlier, and that was that we
don't take seriously enough in this country mental health problems,
and that yes, it's fine to call in with a

(00:20):
sick day, but sometimes you just need a mental health day.
If you're feeling depressed, if you're feeling anxious, whatever, you
should be able to call in. And we were questioning,
what do you say, do you have to say anything?
Can you take a mental health day and not have
to explain that to your boss?

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Well, I would say that I would agree ten years
ago that our country and employers didn't take mental health
and higher education, frankly, education in general didn't take mental
health as seriously or didn't address it as aggressively as

(01:02):
they should have. It is a crisis in our country. Students,
high school students, Every survey shows they feel incredibly stressed
and are struggling with mental health, college students and adults.
And I feel like employers are finally getting with the program.

(01:22):
And you see so many employers implementing great mental health
wellness benefits that really address this. And we're still a
little bit stereotyping mental health as somehow different from any
other kind of health thing. Whether it's the brain right,

(01:42):
the mind, or your heart or your lungs or your
me right, it's a health issue, and it might be
a physical health issue or mental health issue, it's still
a health issue that is impacting your ability in some
way to be effective in your relationships and in your job.

(02:04):
So I don't think, as any individual, you need to
treat your need for time to address your mental health
any differently than you would need if you had the
flu and you couldn't go into work, or you broke
a bone and you couldn't go into work, And you
don't have to explain to your employer what the health

(02:27):
issue is. If you need a day, you can just say,
And most employers now are not asking for which day,
which category does this fallen? Is this a personal day?
Is a sick day? Is this a vacation day? Most
modern employers are just moving to a general paid time
off where you take the days that are allotted to

(02:51):
you for whatever reason you need. That's your business and
that's what people absolutely should do. You have to pay
attention to your mental health because, as we know, it
impacts every part of your life, not just your job,
your personal life, and if you're not well, then you
can't be well for others, and you certainly can't perform
your best in the job.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
It's interesting that you said that most employers now are
not even asking the reason. I always thought you couldn't
ask the reason. If somebody was calling in and said,
I'm sick today, I'm not going to be in Are
they allowed to get that personal and say, really, what's
wrong with you?

Speaker 2 (03:30):
They? What I'm saying is an employee doesn't have to
say I'm calling in sick, okay, because many employers now
are just allotting a general amount of time off to
use however you need to use. So if you're just
calling in, say I'm taking one of my PTO days,

(03:52):
my pay time off days, it could be for whatever reason.
An employer could If someone on my team calls me
and says, Greg, I'm you know, I'm not feeling well.
I'm not coming into work today, just as a good
person I would ask, I might ask is everything okay?
You know, you know anything I could do for you?

(04:13):
Or oh my god, what's wrong not even thinking that
I'm being too personal. So if you have that kind
of relationship, it's okay to ask someone out of genuine
care and concern, but no not to be inquisitive to see, well,
I want you to divulte something that is confidential that
legally you don't have to divault. That's all I mean

(04:34):
by that.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
Wonderful, I got it. Okay, let's get to the topic
that we were teasing and that you want to talk about.
The biggest career mistake ever made this is this is
pretty interesting?

Speaker 2 (04:48):
Well, so there. You could take this in a lot
of different directions. There are mistakes that people make that
I kill their career, others that set them back. But
I actually want to take this in a different direction,
and that is advice. I wish I had been able

(05:09):
to give myself with what I know now as a
younger version of me, and I think this applies to
so many people. You are not all that the most
talented people in the world are replaceable, and to act

(05:33):
like you are uniquely talented and the company will suffer
if they don't have you is the absolutely wrong perspective
to have. What you need to do is constantly feel like, listen, yeah,
I'm talented, but they could always find somebody else. So

(05:54):
how do I demonstrate my value and the impact I
have every day? So that when employers have to make
difficult decisions, which they often do, about which people to
keep and which to move out or who to reassign
to something else, you want them to look at you

(06:15):
and say, whatever we do, we have to try to
find a way to keep that person. And you want
other employers to say, whatever we do, we have to
figure out a way to hire that person. And that
keeps you on your toes to make sure that you're
always looking for ways to add value. How can I
help this company? What can I do? What can I learn?

(06:37):
How can I contribute? How can I volunteer? You need
to be that person, and when you're not that person,
that's when bad things are more likely to happen.

Speaker 1 (06:47):
Oh that's great advice. Should you be promoting yourself that way?

Speaker 2 (06:54):
And you wouldn't. You shouldn't be promoting yourself as in
self promoting. You should just be that person. Demonstrate those
qualities every day, and you trust me, your bosses will
notice and they will respect it, and they will you
truly appreciate it. And the other thing is the biggest

(07:15):
career mistake. The other big career mistake that people make
is they're not honest with themselves. They're not honest with
their strengths, what they're really good at, what they're truly
capable of doing, and what makes them happy. If you
don't do what really makes you happy, that you're really
good at, you are going to struggle your entire career.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah. No, And you have to be honest with yourself too,
because that can go both ways. People don't value themselves enough.
People value themselves too much, and being honest with yourself
is extremely important in that situation.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Thanks so much, Greg gian Grande, Career advice expert. Check
come out at go to Greg dot com where you
can ask your own question. Thanks so much, Greg, appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
Always a pleasure. Thank you,