Fixed leave...unlimited leave
Since 2021, LinkedIn has given its employees an additional fixed paid week off, in response to an increase of work-related mental ill health following the covid-19 pandemic. At the time, the Chief People Officer described the thought process behind the initiative “what we think is most valuable right now is time for all of us to collectively walk away”. Nike, Bumble and Hootsuite have all implemented similar policies in recent years. With just a core team keeping operations running, employees will not return to a buildup of work.
Interestingly, many companies that implement fixed holidays also operate discretionary time off or unlimited paid leave throughout the year. Some evidence suggests that unlimited leave policies actually result in employees taking less leave. Reasons for this include peer pressure and culture, unclear guidelines on what is an ‘acceptable’ amount of leave to take, and wanting to keep on top of workload. It may be that employers recognise the downside of this, which they counter by building in placeholder company-wide breaks from work.
However, fixed leave scheduled as a forcing function to focus on mental health is confusing in what it sets out to achieve. It suggests employees struggle to switch off from high demands of work at other times of the year, and are unable to step away from work unless this is built in to their schedule. It is unlikely that a mandatory week to recharge is the sustainable way to address this. In a context where employees do not take much other time off throughout the year, it also allows employers to control when people take a break. This can have financial benefits- such as scheduling the company break for quieter times of year. Syncing up leave can help teams and businesses operationally by keeping workstreams on or off altogether.
Lara’s take
It is becoming harder to maintain boundaries between work and life. Employers implementing additional periods of fixed leave is an acknowledgement that time away from work is essential for productivity. However, time away from work is not a sustainable solution to work-related stress or burnout. Addressing workplace risk factors is the only way to go about tackling work-related mental ill health.
Employers implementing periods of mandatory leave demonstrates that at some organisations, people are not good at taking leave when they need it themselves. Does this come down to lack of employee insight… an inability to recognise when they need time out, or barriers to acting on that insight and requesting leave? Both indicate working conditions that require optimisation.
Through fixed leave offers, employers force their staff to step away from work, but on their terms. A workforce should not be experiencing prolonged work-related stress to the extent a mandatory break from work is required. A healthy workforce would find it easier to step away from the demands of work, when it works for them.