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You're listening to Women at Work from Harvard Business Review. I'm Amy Bernstein.

I'm Amy Gala, and I'm Emily Coffield.

With the endless video calls that COVID has forced upon us, our personal lives have become visible to the people we work with.

We've gotten used to colleagues seeing inside our homes, what we look like dressed down, family members and pets, and in my case with a pile of clothes in the background.

If at first this visibility left women feeling exposed, for many it's come to relieve the pressure to

appear so put together. A public health crisis created healthier expectations.

But our private health, what's happening inside our minds and bodies, is in many cases still invisible

to colleagues.

And when an acute or chronic health issue disrupts our work life, how do we let our bosses

and coworkers know? How vulnerable should we be?

And as managers, how do we best support an employee who discloses a diagnosis?

These questions hit home for our show team recently when Maureen

Hoke the editor of hbri.org and our boss colleague and friend told us she was

scheduled for surgery to remove a mass on her

uterus. She had endometriosis and her doctor needed to check for cancer.

Maureen wasn't just dealing with the uncertainty of what was ahead.

She was also struggling with what and how to tell people at work about her health.

...