Putting People Before Profit

Written by: Rachael Thomas

Well, Nike just did it. 

The company took a stance on putting people before profit and attempting to combat burnout — and it’s something that all companies can learn from. 

Nike shut down its corporate offices for a week in late August and gave its employees paid time off to focus on their mental health.

“Our senior leaders are all sending a clear message: Take the time to unwind, destress and spend time with your loved ones. Do not work,” wrote Matt Marrazzo, Nike’s senior manager of global marketing science in a LinkedIn post announcing the week off.

Rest is essential to mental and emotional wellbeing as well as productivity, and Nike is one of several companies showing their understanding of that. Whitney Wolfe, CEO of the dating app Bumble, gave all 700 of her employees a week off as paid vacation in July. And PricewaterhouseCoopers announced in April they would pay employees $250 each time they take a full week’s vacation for the next year with the hopes of expanding the incentive in the future.

“It's not just a ‘week off’ for the team,” Marrazzo wrote on LinkedIn. “It's an acknowledgment that we can prioritize mental health and still get work done.”

Hats off to Nike and the other companies working to put people first. It’s a start, but all must benefit — the week off for Nike HQ didn’t extend to its retail stores and workers. Still, let’s hope that more companies begin implementing their own wellness initiatives. Because if we’ve learned anything in the past year-plus, it’s that we are not built to work while going through continuous trauma and grief. And if we don’t stop and give our bodies the time it needs to recharge, our bodies will pick that time for us.