I recently took a mental health training at work that attempted to define mental health, outline its importance, destigmatize it, and give people resources. To be honest, it was disappointing. I had low expectations, but it did little to even hide the fact that it was really just there to reduce the company's liability in mental health incidents.

It was the wordiest training I've ever taken on our training platform. In the past, I've struggled a lot with mental health at work and made the decision not to talk to my leadership about it. The training reaffirmed these decisions for me, which I don't think is the direction it was going for.

Anyway, that’s not why I’m here. I appreciate the attempt to do the right thing and it’s not my goal to disparage that effort.

However, there is one crucial point that I think it failed to address that I wish were a part of the training. Working in a contact center, there is something specific that my peers and I need to hear, and it would go a long way in fixing the mental health problem at the company. In my frustration, I took a moment to write down what I would put in the training if I could.

No matter who you are or what role you play in the company, you matter.

And yes, this includes the employees who have been hired to do transactional work. In my experience, there is a unique challenge to contact center work here, because the company's leadership touts a culture of innovation, doing the right thing, and putting thoughtfulness and creativity in everything we do. This creates a challenge because for us, we’re ultimately here to answer phone calls or chats or tickets. No matter what we do, customers will always need people like us.

But your role doesn’t affect the fact that you matter. Even if you’re here to just do a job and get a paycheck, you matter.

I’ve seen lots of people gain empowerment from this culture of innovation and solve difficult and unique problems in ways that enriches the lives of both our peers and our customers. I would even dare say I have been one of those people.

But I have also seen members of leadership fail to take this challenge seriously. As I’ve grown in my technical knowledge and have tried to find ways to offer up my knowledge to the company, I’ve realized that a disrespect for anyone at the specialist level is built directly into the systems and structures employed.

At its worst, I have experienced whole leadership teams who encourage this culture of innovation, and have encouraged me to step outside of the confines of my role; but when I’ve ever happened to step on anyone’s toes, I’ve been berated, ghosted, minimized, and and talked to like a child. Ultimately, the message I’ve gotten is that I need to "know my place".

All of this is to say, this company doesn’t always get it right, and sometimes even gets it very wrong. I wish the mental health training had done a better job acknowledging this. But since it doesn’t, I feel it is important I try.

You matter enough to set boundaries for yourself at work.
You matter enough to set boundaries for yourself outside of work.
You matter enough to have space to talk about mental health at work.
You matter enough to not deserve to be treated like less because of your role.
You matter enough to have a seat at the table, and for people to listen when you have something to say.
You matter enough to be treated with respect, even when work leads to heated conversations and conflicting ideas.
You matter enough to not deserve disrespectful behavior, even from superiors.
You matter even if your mental (or physical!) health demands a lot from you and takes away from your time to work.
You matter enough to not have anyone dig into your personal life because they don’t personally understand that.
You matter more than anyone’s ego or any group’s optics.

Sometimes, the way people behave at work doesn't reflect these statements. In at least parts of the contact center, there is a serious mental health problem, and I unfortunately don’t have the answers.

I do know that taking a walk, as the training suggests, is not the answer. I know that joining an employee group is not the answer. I know that breathing exercises and meditation challenges and visits to health facilities are not the answer.

Ultimately, the answer does not lie solely on your shoulders. Framing mental health as an individual issue, or isolated problem between a small number of people, does little to address the high-pressure, low-accountability environment that thrives in contact centers, and to which no company, not even one as progressive as ours, is not immune. You matter enough for these things to be addressed, and I’m sorry they aren’t.

These are things that I’ve learned over the years in dealing with this environment.

• Set boundaries at work. There is no shame in setting rigid boundaries, especially if you’ve been burned before. If someone speaks to you in a way that makes you feel disrespected, it’s okay to honor that feeling by letting the person know how they can speak differently.
• Set boundaries outside of work. If you have to worry about a manager texting you or Slack notifications making you think about work stuff when you’re not at work, then your brain is not really resting. This is especially important when working from home, where you no longer have that physical separation between the workplace and your place to rest and rejuvenate.
• Verbalize what you need. Even better, put it in writing. You aren’t doing anyone favors hoping that people will behave in a way you feel is appropriate. Let people know what’s off-limits, what definitely needs to be discussed, and the best way to move forward. That way, if they continue to cross your boundaries, you can be certain you’ve given them the opportunity to do better.
• Document the things that you feel impact your work environment. Sometimes, just writing it down silences the little voice in our head that the frustrations we feel are invalid. Worst case scenario, they can help you put forth a strong argument if people refuse to listen.
• Remember you are not your metrics. Yeah, a lot might hinge on them, like your schedules or performance reviews. And when we can’t meet the demands of the business and keep up with our peers, that is difficult to cope with. But even in rare cases where ones job is at jeopardy, it does not change the fact that they deserve to be treated with respect.
• Remember it’s okay to not like where you work. Workplaces like to promote treating employees like a “family,” but we are ultimately not one. If you’re like me, and you’re into the culture here and you’d be disappointed to ever leave it behind, that’s great! But you also don’t have to want to be here to matter here. Even if you don’t like taking the calls or chats or issues that you do, or you don’t like the way things are set up at work, you still deserve all of the things I listed above.