More employers to offer ‘burnout weeks’

The number of employers offering employees paid ‘burnout weeks’, intended to alleviate the stresses of the pandemic, is increasing and looks set to become a trend. 

Dating app Bumble announced in April that all its employees will be given one week of paid, fully offline leave in June.

Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder of Bumble, said this was to combat any burnout employees may be feeling after the intense period of work caused by the pandemic. Since then, other companies have followed suit, including LinkedIn.

A recent poll conducted found that 81% of respondents think a paid week off to tackle employee burnout is a good idea.  Only a small minority (8%) thought it was a bad idea, while 11% said something else is needed to combat the impact the pandemic has had on employees.

The idea of offering staff a burnout week to help recharge the batteries and alleviate the pressures of work has become increasingly popular over recent months.  The trend, at present, is largely a US-centric one, and in part seems to compensate for the country’s long-established hesitancy to offer employees any significant periods of paid annual leave.

Many employers have already embraced such initiatives including duvet days and that the burnout week seems like an extension of that idea.  At a time when both physical and mental health and wellbeing is at the forefront of people’s minds, this offers employees an opportunity to disconnect entirely from the world of work.

It is anticipated that post-pandemic workplace will not bear any resemblance to that before COVID-19, with many businesses have introduced policies that actively encourage a better work-life balance through homeworking or flexible hours.