Manager covers employee's work and sends care packages to their home when they suddenly take an extended leave of absence, surprising the other team members: 'You're one of us. We take care of each other here.'

For all the stories you read online about workplace situations, only a handful that you come across are overwhelmingly positive and heartwarming. It's a good reminder that there are those leaders out there who genuinely want to foster a supportive environment to promote growth and thrive towards mutual success.

This manager is one of those managers.

I stumbled across this thread in a small online community where a third party, another employee who worked in the office, shared their shocked reaction upon discovering what their manager had done for their coworker. Without making a show of it, their manager had been quietly covering things and sending care packages to their coworker's home when their coworker suddenly took an extended leave of absence for personal reasons.

This stands apart from tired stories emerging from confused and twisted employer-employee obligations, where the lowest-level staff band together to donate their PTO to a sick coworker, when the cynical truth is that the company could have just granted that coworker more leave as a sign of goodwill without incurring much cost. It is a short but truly heartwarming account that reminds us of the value of the social contract.