Time Is the Hot New Perk: Here Are 5 Ways Companies Are Handing It Out

Employers are doling out time off like there’s no tomorrow, as they seek to fight burnout and satisfy employees’ demands for more work-life balance.

From no-meeting days to company-wide shutdowns, time has become one of the hottest perks to emerge from the pandemic, and employers are showing few signs of rolling it back. A survey by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that 23% of U.S. employers have expanded their paid time off offerings. 

Having more hours to devote to family and other personal matters is the No. 1 priority for job seekers today, LinkedIn data shows. With a record number of workers quitting their jobs, companies see offering more time as a key to attracting and retaining talent. 

Employers also have become increasingly concerned about rising employee burnout and the impact it’s having on productivity. By providing more downtime, they’re looking to lower stress levels and boost employee well-being. 

But companies aren’t just tacking on more vacation days. Take a few minutes to read about the creative strategies employers are using to give employees the gift of time:

1. Meetings are getting the axe

More employers are recognizing that back-to-back meetings can be draining and often drag on longer than necessary.

Thomson Reuters changed the default time periods for scheduling meetings from increments of 30 or 60 minutes to 25 or 45 minutes, while PwC set a goal of reducing the length of meetings by 25%. Wiley, Peloton, Axiata, and others have gone ever further, designating full or partial meeting-free days.

Axiata launched “Feel Good Fridays,” heavily discouraging meetings after 1 p.m. The goal: to allow employees to finish up their work undisturbed before the weekend. “When you go into the weekend, it’s your weekend with your family,” says Norlida (Oli) Azmi, Axiata’s chief people officer. 

Some employers are moving away from meetings altogether. Twitter, GitLab, and Doist are among those embracing asynchronous modes of communication. Rather than chatting live, participants converse via email or instant messaging tools and respond at their own pace.

“Not only does async produce the best work results,” Doist CEO Amir Salihefendic wrote in a blog post, “but it also lets people do more meaningful work and live freer, more fulfilled lives.”

2. Companies are lifting the cap on PTO 

A perk once largely unheard of is gaining steam: As many as 20% of companies in a 2021 survey by Mercer said they offered unlimited PTO to at least some of their employees, up from 14% in 2018. Sony, Grubhub, and the U.K.-based recruitment company Austin Fraser are among the employers that allow workers to call the shots on their time off.

Employers not only see unlimited PTO as a way to battle burnout, there’s a financial upside too. When employees leave or retire, companies are generally not obliged to pay for unused vacation days. 

But while unlimited PTO may sound appealing in theory, workers are often reluctant to take time off when they have no boundaries. Austin Fraser sends its managers quarterly reports and asks them to be on the lookout for employees who resist taking vacation days. Those employees are then encouraged to book time off, says Alice Scott, chief operations and inclusion officer at Austin Fraser.

3. We’re all taking off — at the same time 

For some employees, vacation isn’t really a vacation. With colleagues working and emails still flying, it can be hard for them to disengage.

Enter the company-wide shutdown. LinkedIn, Nike, Hootsuite, Bumble, Thomson Reuters, and others are embracing collective time off, when nearly everyone in the company checks out simultaneously. 

“Unlike vacation, which happens asynchronously around the world,” says Mary-Alice Vuicic, chief people officer at Thomson Reuters, “almost everybody in the company is able to put pens down, devices down, and just take time to focus on their own health and well-being.”

Employers have another goal in mandating company-wide vacations. They’re signaling to employees that they care about their well-being and are taking responsibility for advancing their mental and physical health.

“Our senior leaders are all sending a clear message,” Nike senior manager Matt Marrazzo posted on LinkedIn ahead of Nike’s weeklong shutdown. “Take the time to unwind, destress, and spend time with your loved ones. Do not work.”

4. Client call at 1, nap at 2 

Research has shown that even small breaks can help lower stress levels and improve employee performance. But as the boundaries between home and work life have broken down as a result of the pandemic, workers are even less inclined to take the time they need to recharge. A survey by Tork found that nearly 40% of people say they only occasionally, rarely, or never take breaks during the workday. 

In response, some employers are encouraging workers to carve out time in their day to devote to things other than work. Peloton urges its employees to use an app to block off time in their calendars to take care of important personal matters.

At Deloitte, employees can design their workdays to include well-being activities at the hours that make sense for them. Jen Fisher, Deloitte’s chief well-being officer, likes to work out daily from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. “It’s in my work calendar,” Jen says, “just like any other appointment.”

5. The four-day workweek is creating some buzz 

How far will some companies go to give workers more time? A growing number are rethinking a century-old standard and ditching the five-day workweek.

Crowdfunding company Kickstarter, fintech company Bolt, Spanish fashion company Desigual, and New Zealand-based Perpetual Guardian have all announced plans to compress their workweeks or have already instituted a four-day workweek.

Employers increasingly see the benefits of allowing employees to work fewer hours. After online kids-apparel retailer Primary started giving its staff Fridays off, employees came to work on Mondays feeling recharged, while the company’s voluntary attrition rate dropped slightly, Primary’s chief experience officer Cap Watkins told The New York Times. 

In Iceland, which tested shortened workweeks for its public sector workers, employees reported feeling less stressed and less at risk of burnout, while productivity remained the same — or improved. 

Whether shortened workweeks will go mainstream remains to be seen. For many companies, getting the job done in a tighter timeframe is a hurdle too high to overcome. 

But for those who can figure it out, the payoff could be a happier staff and fewer employees walking out the door. “Whoever cracks the four-day workweek,” says employer brand and employee engagement consultant Marta Riggins, “is going to win the talent war.” 

Final thoughts

Offering employees generous amounts of time requires planning and effort. Companies need to make sure they have enough staff to fill in when employees are away. Leaders will have to act as role models, demonstrating that they too are checking out and taking time for themselves.

Most importantly, employers must adopt a new mindset that shows it doesn’t matter how many days or hours employees put into their jobs. What matters are the results they produce.

“Performance and success can no longer be thought of in terms of face time or the number of hours worked,” writes Carolyn Moore, chief people officer at InfluxData, in Fast Company. “Instead, the focus should be on how an employee matches up to the clear expectations set by a manager. While the process is important, the end result is truly what drives an organization.”

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