Examples from around the globe on organizations being creative in helping employees manage workplace stress and burnout
Over the past few blog posts, I have been sharing with you some of the key information I presented earlier this week at the Global Workplace Wellness Summit, including Why Workplace Wellness Starts With Stress Reduction and why Preventing and Helping Employees Deal with Burnout is now a Critical Leadership Skill.
In those posts, and the ones which preceded these last week, I also shared with you some actions you and your organization can take to reduce workplace stress and help one another cope (or prevent) burnout.
Here are some other innovative ideas from organizations large and small that have beneficial in helping employees manage workplace stress and burnout:
Verve Logic in India gave all employees a day off in September to watch the launch of the third season of Money Heist. They even injected some humor into this day away from the office by calling it an unofficial “bank holiday.”
Nike gave head office employees a week off in August to support their mental health.
Bumble, the online dating application, has not institutionalized twice-yearly collective weeks off for staff as a permanent workplace perk.
Citicorp has a policy of Zoom-Free Fridays, helping staff to avoid or recovery from “Zoom fatigue.”
McDonald’s is scheduling three mental health days for their corporate employees.
The environmental engineering firm Greeley and Hansen held a Day of Disconnect for staff to get away from work. They even prevented their staff from accessing emails or company servers, thus forcing everyone to be completely away from any work correspondence.
Thrive Reset 
Here’s a best-practice from Thrive Global, the organization owned by Ariana Huffington. They now start their weekly All Hands meetings by having one person in the organization share their tips and techniques for managing reducing stress. These can range from jokes to breathing exercises to gleeful stories about the accomplishments of a team member’s children.
It doesn’t really matter what is shared by the individual. The whole purpose of this exercise is to remind everyone of the many tactics for reducing and managing stress. It also puts everyone in a more relaxed and less stressful state of mind as the weekly All Hands meeting commences.
This weekly practice is called Thrive Reset. What a wonderful idea. And a great example of an organization walking the talk of reducing workplace stress. Additionally, since Thrive Global is committed to helping people prioritize their mental health and take meaningful action to live with less stress and more joy, this practice is definitely in line with their core values.
There is now a Thrive Reset app for Zoom, which has a selection of mental reset practices including gratitude moments, stretching exercises, guided breathing, and tips for taking a “brain break.”
I haven’t been able to download the app and get it working with my Zoom account. Nevertheless, I highly recommend you check it out in the Zoom App store.
Other Resources
Here are some other resources which might help you improve workplace wellness in your organization, or help you improve your own mental wellness:
The Business Case for Workplace Wellness
Building and Maintaining Long-Term Brain Health (a 10-part series of videos on my YouTube Channel
Best Recommended Brain Health and Mindful Leadership Articles
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