Hootsuite Is Shutting Down The Entire Company For A Mental Health Week

The pandemic reminded us all how important mental health is.

In 2020, as the pandemic surged across the globe, everyone went home. In-person interactions were cancelled, each to be replaced by a digital counterpart.

But with increased time spent in hyper-digital spheres, we also saw a rise in depression, anxiety, loneliness, and uncertainty.

Vancouver’s Hootsuite has been leading the way in redefining what a healthy company culture and workforce means. They’ve focused on building a diverse, inclusive, and results-oriented workplace.

But for Hootsuite, ‘results-oriented’ doesn’t mean working around the clock or being highly productive every single day.

Hootsuite founder, and now Chairman, Ryan Holmes relates work-life balance to “interval training”—an ethos where bursts of hard work are offset by periods of rest and recovery.

Holmes even argued that sometimes what everyone really needs is an extended period away from the job—be that in the form of a vacation or even a longer sabbatical.

The Vancouver tech anchor has built a holistic approach to mental health into the fibre of how they work and they’ve implemented a host of new initiatives to demonstrate that.

Today, Hootsuite announced a company-wide Wellness Week where the entire company can all “unplug” together—forgoing the collective need to check notifications while they’re out or “catch up” upon return.

Championed by Hootsuite’s recently appointed Chief People and Diversity Office Tara Ataya, the inaugural Wellness Week, which will take place between July 5 to 12, is separate from each employee’s vacation allotment.

For those in customer-facing roles or roles where there are critical coverage needs, staggered schedules will ensure appropriate coverage so that Hootsuite’s customers won’t experience any interruptions in service.