Does your workplace need a ‘crying room’?

A CBC North lawsuit puts the spotlight on how employers manage distress and psychological health

THE CBC’S NORTHERN bureau found itself at the centre of a toxic workplace complaint earlier this month, after a former human resources employee, Karl Johnston, sued the national broadcaster claiming a host of toxic workplace complaints — including the allegation that things were so bad that management had a designated “crying room” for stressed-out staff.

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It is well-known within media circles that the CBC can be a challenging environment (even among the casual-heavy federal service, the CBC is renowned for its heavy use of temporary workers), but the claims of a crying room (untested in court, we should add) was eye-raising. “The fact that there was a crying room, I think, is shocking,” said the lawyer for the plaintiff, Kathryn Marshall, speaking with the National Post. “I’ve never seen anything like that before in any workplace.”

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HR experts were equally taken aback. “It’s a major signal that employee stress and distress has become normalized, and psychological safety in the workplace has broken down,” said Edmonton-based HR executive Brianna Madron. “HR can’t frame this as employees not being ‘tough enough.’”

On the one hand, a crying room in your workplace implies a significant amount of crying at work, which is never a good sign. But some, for totally different reasons, have advocated for crying rooms at work. A few years ago, an employment lawyer detailed her belief in the value of crying rooms after realizing she had “cried at work twice” within the span of a year.

“I can see that there probably is a benefit in having a space at work for employees to take a rest, be calm and when they feel like it, have a good cry,” she reasoned.

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Psychiatrists have also written that a crying space can be a good idea at some workplaces.

So, know that even crying rooms have their supporters — although the important distinction here seems to be that those workplaces aren’t causing the crying, so it’s hard to see the CBC going with that defence here. Kieran Delamont