WeWork Offers Employees 10-Day Diwali Break to "Relax And Re-Energise"

Global coworking space provider WeWork has offered an extended 10-day Diwali vacation for all its employees in India.

The company emphasised that the extended festive holiday will help employees take a break from work and spend quality time with family this Diwali. 

According to Priti Shetty, chief people and culture officer of WeWork India, the move aims to give time to the employees to relax and re-energise, Business Today reported.

She said the company had surpassed internal benchmarks, and the 10-day holiday is a "gesture of gratitude towards the entrepreneurial spirit of every WeWork employee". She added that they have decided to make the vacation an "annual ritual".

The New York-headquartered office space provider also gave a 10-day break last year's festive season. It had said that the break was to give some downtime to the staff and help them celebrate Diwali with their families. 

Last month, e-commerce platform Meesho took a similar step by announcing an 11-day companywide "Reset and Recharge break" for its staff while highlighting the importance of mental health.

Sanjeev Barnwal, founder and CTO of Meesho, wrote in a tweet that the company is offering the break for the second consecutive year to help its employees maintain a work-life balance and enjoy the festive season.

"Meeshoites will take some much-needed time off to Reset & Recharge from October 22 to November," he wrote.

A survey on mental health conducted by Deloitte revealed that poor mental health of employees costs Indian firms around $14 billion a year due to absenteeism, lower productivity, and attrition.

In the survey titled "Mental health and well-being in the workplace", Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP (DTTILLP) analysed the current state of mental well-being amongst Indian employees.

It found that 47 per cent of people surveyed believed that workplace-related stress is the biggest factor affecting their mental health.