Top line
LinkedIn will offer workers free next week to try to combat burnout, a move that comes as big companies are trying to find ways to help tired Zoom employees.
LinkedIn logo seen at the entrance to the EMEA LinkedIn headquarters in Dublin. On Friday, January 29, … [+]
Photo by Artur Widak / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Key factors
LinkedIn will give its 15,900 full-time employees a paid week off starting April 5, according to CNN.
A small group of basic workers will keep things running and schedule their free time at a later date.
This was said by Teuila Hanson, head of LinkedIn people CNN the company decided to give employees the week after seeing how employees felt “energized” after the company’s December holiday break.
LinkedIn did not immediately respond to a request for comment from LinkedIn Forbes.
Crucial budget
“We wanted to make sure we could give them something really valuable, and what we think is most valuable now is the time for us all to leave collectively. And what’s really good after a closing, you come back and you don’t have a lot of emails or meeting notes that you think you’ve updated or you feel like you have to look at your email. ” said Hanson.
Key background
Burnout is a major problem that affects white-collar knowledge workers. According to a 2018 Gallup survey, two-thirds of full-time workers experience burnout, and this has only worsened during the pandemic, researchers say. Remote workers spend longer hours at home, which causes a greater sense of isolation and exhaustion. Companies like Linkedin have an incentive to combat exhaustion, which translates into unproductive and disengaged employees, as well as increased turnover. According to researchers at Stanford University, burnout costs employers between $ 120 million and $ 190 million a year in healthcare costs alone.
Amazing data
Google gave its employees a day off in September to be “collective” to deal with the burnout. Facebook allowed workers to take out the whole week of Thanksgiving. Other companies have expanded access to online mental health resources or by training employees on how to better support workers suffering from pandemic-related stress.
Tangent
As vaccination rates improve, big tech companies like Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon are already planning to return to the office later this year and some, including Uber, are opting to open limited-capacity offices this month. .
What to look for?
When LinkedIn employees return to the office, they will be able to “work flexibly up to 50% of the time.” Several companies, including Salesforce and Microsoft, have committed to hybrid work schedules where workers only enter the office a few days a week.