There are companies that can’t wait to get you back to the office. It doesn’t matter that you want to keep working remotely, as it offers a better quality of life. Middle managers want to return to the pre-pandemic days because “we’ve always done it this way.”
Take heart, some enlightened, forward-thinking companies are becoming more empathetic and treating employees with respect. United Kingdom-based Fidelity International, a 50-year-old, purpose-driven, privately held money management firm with nearly $800 billion under management, plans to enact meaningful worker-friendly policies.
According to Bloomberg, Fidelity Investments CEO Anne Richards is “trying out ways of flexible working” and considering a “bump in pay,” due to inflationary pressures, in an effort to better the lives of staff. Richards reached out to her employees and asked them what work styles are best suited for them. While there are benefits to being in the office, Richards said, “I don’t believe that you need to have people in the office [eight to]10 hours a day, five days a week.”
The CEO offered five of six different “templates” and “patterns” to her 8,500 international team members. She told them to experiment and see which options are best for them. This could include abbreviated workdays, taking a certain number of days off during the month and other choices.
The company’s mission is “to create a safe and healthy work environment.” The firm is “committed to building a culture where all of our employees feel welcomed, valued and supported. Our focus is on enhancing the opportunity for all of our employees to thrive in their careers.”
The white-collar social media platform, LinkedIn, gave its workers an extra paid week off in April. Teuila Hanson, LinkedIn’s chief people officer, said about the decision, “We wanted to make sure we could give them something really valuable, and what we think is most valuable right now is time for all of us to collectively walk away.” Hanson added, “I think the reality of the weight of the pandemic really took its toll during those months. That was a heavy time. That is when we were seeing: ‘wow there is clear burnout.'”
In a follow-up LinkedIn post after the time off, Hanson wrote, “It’s been three weeks since we all returned from our companywide RestUp! week and it’s so inspiring to see how our employees returned to work rejuvenated and recharged. It reminds me just how critical company culture and the wellness and mental health of employees are to any business.” It’s a smart move on the part of companies, as Hanson points out, “A supportive company culture not only attracts and retains the kind of talent needed to build the business.”
Andrew Barnes, the founder of New Zealand-based financial services firm Perpetual Guardian, implemented a four-day workweek. The experiment was so successful that Barnes and his partner, Charlotte Lockhart, embarked upon a campaign to get other companies to embrace their own abbreviated workweeks.
The forward-thinking executives established the 4 Day Week Global Foundation to fund research into the future of work and workplace well-being. The goal is to build a global coalition moving companies toward the adoption of a four-day workweek.
Aziz Hasan, the CEO of crowdsourcing platform Kickstarter, is one of the first companies to commit to the pilot program. “Kickstarter has a history of thoughtfully approaching the way we design our workplace. As we build a future that is flexible, we see testing a four-day workweek as a continuation of that spirit and intention,” Hasan said in a company statement.
It’s not just the private sector that’s taking action. Democratic Congressman Mark Takano introduced legislation to reduce the standard workweek from 40 hours to 32 hours.
Takano said, “A shorter workweek would benefit both employers and employees alike.” He pointed out, “Pilot programs run by governments and businesses across the globe have shown promising results, as productivity climbed and workers reported better work-life balance, less need to take sick days, heightened morale and lower childcare expenses because they had more time with their family and children.”
Takano added, “Shorter workweeks have also been shown to further reduce healthcare premiums for employers, lower operational costs for businesses and have a positive environmental impact in some of these studies.” The congressman asserts that the workers would benefit from this change, as his proposal will allow non-exempt employees to receive overtime compensation for any hours worked over 32 hours.
Bumble, the woman-led dating app that recently went public, gave all of its employees a paid week off amid reports of pandemic-induced burnout. In a company blogpost, Hootsuite, a social media scheduling platform, wrote, “We’re shutting down the entire company for a full week.” Hootsuite’s rationale was that the “pandemic reminded us how important mental health is. So, we’re making big moves to support our people—including a companywide week off.”
Web browser Mozilla shut down the entire company for “Wellness Week.” Hotelier Marriott International added three paid “TakeCare Days Off” on the Fridays before Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day. Private equity firm Aquiline Capital Partners told its bankers to go on vacation.
To remedy the imbalance between the needs of companies and enticing people to join and retain them, businesses are getting creative. They are offering increases in wages, sign-on bonuses and college tuition assistance.
Target announced that it’s offering a substantial benefit to attract and retain workers. The large retailer will take care of the cost of college tuition, fees and textbooks. The employees will have access to around 250 mostly online programs offered by about 40 colleges and universities. The Minneapolis-based chain will extend this offer to its 340,000 full and part-time workers. Additionally, Target plans to help its staff with student debt.
In a company blog post, Walmart previously announced that it will “pay 100% of college tuition and books for associates through its Live Better U (LBU) education program.” The size of the program is staggering. About “1.5 million part-time and full-time Walmart and Sam’s Club associates in the U.S. can earn college degrees or learn trade skills without the burden of education debt.” The largest employer in the U.S. will allocate about $1 billion over the next five years in “career-driven training and development.”
It’s good to see that businesses are starting to step up their efforts to improve the quality of their employees’ lives.
Source: Forbes
