From a recent CNBC article on company-wide vacation breaks to foster employee well-being:
Feeling revitalized is what many employees and their employers both want. Starting this year, accounting and consulting firm PwC is giving its 60,000 U.S. employees two annual company-wide, week-long breaks — one in July and one in December — in addition to vacation time. While it is hard to quantify an increase in productivity, the company says it’s a success based on feedback from employees and customers.
“No doubt about it, this works,” said PwC senior partner and U.S. Chair Tim Ryan about shutting the firm down and giving people a break across the board earlier this month.
“The energy and the enthusiasm is amazing, and that translates to my mind to productivity and happier clients at the end of the day,” he said, while visiting one of PwC’s offices in Des Moines, Iowa.
PwC implemented the Christmas shutdown a couple years back and we’ve never seen a single person complain so it must be working, adding extra downtime when things are already slow seems like a good idea. Can 14 days make a huge difference? Is everyone at PwC enthusiastic after they get a summer break (except those who don’t get a break due to deadlines, of course)? Do all firms need to implement annual breaks? Does Tim Ryan get a break, too? So many questions.
It was def nice coming back from the week off without emails from every manager I work with piled up in my inbox…big fan
KPMG has been doing this for a few years now. Definite positive.
EY has been doing this for a few years now as well.
Deloitte does disconnects in the summer and winter.