Everyone’s on holiday at LinkedIn

Grown up social media company LinkedIn have given their entire staff the week off for wellbeing.

In a bold move to demonstrate their commitment to employee wellbeing they have designated this week a week off for all bar a skeleton staff.

The ‘RestUp!’ week began yesterday. Nearly all the firm’s 15,900 staff have been given the week off. And the company has provided resources for those who might struggle with the enforced extra time on their hands. For example they are providing opportunities to volunteer.

The company described the RestUp initiative as ‘something magical’. They highlighted the benefits of giving everyone the same week off. For example it means that no-one returns to an inbox full of internal emails.

Wellbeing

There are growing concerns around staff mental health and wellbeing the longer the pandemic goes on. Some workers are struggling to maintain a boundary between work hours and home life, risking burnout. Many workers have not set foot in an office for over a year. Companies have had to adapt. The best employers in this area were recognised at our awards ceremony earlier this year. 

With the ‘work from home’ order likely to be lifted by the government in the next few months attention is now turning to preparing staff for a return to the office or creating a new hybrid working model.

LinkedIn staff are already mainly working from home. The firm expects employees to return to offices in the second half of the year. However workers will be able to work from home for some of their working week.

LinkedIn joins other tech companies in embracing new ways of working. LinkedIn parent company Microsoft has already trialled a four day week successfully. Twitter is to extend working from home indefinitely and Facebook switched to permanent working from home early on in the pandemic.

Parental leave on your CV

LinkedIn also made a welcome step for working dads this month when they introduced ‘stay at home dad’ as a job title on the site. And they’ve created an option to add ‘parental leave’ or ‘family care’ to your employment timeline.

In a blog, the company’s head of engineering Bef Ayenew said, “We want every LinkedIn member to have an inclusive experience on the platform no matter who you are as an individual, what your background is, or where you are in your career.”

Research carried out for the company found that while 72% of jobseekers believe there’s a stigma around having a gap on your CV their concerns are misplaced. 79% of hiring managers said they’d happily take on someone with a gap on their resume.

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