Prior to the lockdown, ‘Work From Home’ was just a figure of speech, where people claimed to work and no one could guess otherwise. However, it is almost six months into working from home and employees everywhere have started to feel the pressure and are unable to maintain a balance between their personal and professional lives. What seemed like a blessing initially, has surely changed its course into a baneful situation.
With sleepless nights and unpleasant mornings to never-ending meetings, people’s perception of working from the comforts of their home has totally transformed into a waking nightmare.
However, amidst all these trials and tribulations, Google, one of the reigning technology companies, has decided to give its employees an extra day off in order to avoid burnout and to ensure the “Collective Well-being” of its staff as well as its interns.
Reportedly, the internal forum for employees states, "We strongly encourage you to take this day off — and managers should actively support their team to reprioritize work commitments in order to do so."
Also, providing its employees the option to take an alternate day off, in case they need to work on a Friday, the forum added by saying, "If your manager identifies an urgent business-critical need that requires you to work at the last minute, you should take the next available working day off instead."
While the technical personnel do not have the luxury to take an off on Fridays, the company is looking for ways to compensate them with a similar route of escape.
This initiative by Google has taken the internet by storm and many employees have stepped up and demanded for the same in their companies.