LinkedIn surprises employees with a week off to help with burnout

LinkedIn surprises employees with a week off to help with burnout

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Top line

LinkedIn will give employees a break next week in an attempt to combat burnout, a move that occurs when big companies are trying to find ways to help Zoom’s tired employees.

Key Facts

LinkedIn will give its 15,900 full-time employees a week off from April 5, according to CNN.

A small group of key employees will keep things running and schedule their free time at a later date.

Teuila Hanson, LinkedIn’s Personnel Director, said CNN the company decided to give employees the week after seeing how “energized” employees felt after the company closed on the December holiday.

LinkedIn did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.

Crucial Quote

“We wanted to make sure that we could give them something really valuable, and what we think is most valuable now is the time for us all to leave together. And what is really good after a hang-up, you come back and you don’t have a flood of emails or meeting notes that you think are up to date or that you need to have a look at your email, ”said Hanson.

Key Background

Burnout is a significant problem that plagues white-collar knowledge workers. According to a 2018 Gallup survey, two-thirds of full-time workers experience burnout at work – and this was only made worse during the pandemic, the researchers say. Remote workers are working longer hours at home, which increases the feeling of isolation and exhaustion. Companies like Linkedin have an incentive to combat burnout, which results in unproductive and disinterested employees, as well as increased turnover. According to Stanford University researchers, burnout costs employers $ 120-190 billion a year in health costs alone.

Amazing fact

Google gave its employees a day off in September to “be collective” to deal with exhaustion. Facebook allowed employees to take Thanksgiving Day off the week. Other companies have expanded access to online mental health resources or trained employees on how to better support workers who deal with pandemic-related stress.

Tangent

As vaccination rates improve, large technology companies such as Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon are already making plans to return to the office later this year, with some, including Uber, opting to open offices with limited capacity this month.

What to watch

When LinkedIn employees return to the office, they will have the ability to “work flexibly up to 50% of the time”. Several companies, including Salesforce and Microsoft, have committed to hybrid work schedules, where employees only arrive at the office a few days a week.

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