Slack pings, Zoom calls and irregular work hours have become an all-too-familiar recipe for burnout as agencies and employees adapted to a new way of working over the past two years. In a nod to these pressures and their toll on mental health, some ad agencies have decided to give employees a week off this year.

Kinesso, the media and marketing technology unit for Interpublic Group of Cos., is giving its U.S offices, of approximately 700 employees a paid week off from August 30th-September 6. This is the second IPG company to do so. Mediabrands, a network of eight media and marketing agencies is also shuttering its U.S offices, which employs 3,000 people, during the same week, as first reported by Business Insider.

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Last year, before implementing what it is calling "Kind Week," Kinesso had implemented "Kind Days" adding one day off per month for its employees after it noticed that significantly fewer people were scheduling days off after working remotely for a few months.

“Kinesso has a discretionary time-off policy that you can take as much time as you need, within certain parameters," Renu Hooda, global chief talent officer at Kinesso told Ad Age. “As the pandemic hit, people were at home and nobody was traveling. People were not taking time off. Once we looked at our discretionary time off, one month was down like 85% prior to the previous year's month.”

However, “Kind Days,” which started last June, was short-lived. Following a two-week off period during the Christmas holiday season, the company surveyed it’s employees and realized employees preferred an extended period of time off rather than one day a month.

Dramatic life shift

Independent agencies like The Many are also scheduling an upcoming week off. The agency, which has 150 employees, will be taking off from September 6-13. This marks the second consecutive year that the agency will be implementing its Labor Week initiative.

Wieden + Kennedy also took the opportunity to close its eight offices this summer. Its Portland, New York, Shanghai, and Tokyo office were closed from July 5-9; its Amsterdam and Sao Paulo offices were closed the following week; its Delhi office was closed the week of the 19th; and its London office will be closed the week of August 30th.

Davis Jones, managing director, people at The Many, says the idea came after numerous employee surveys that showed people were feeling overwhelmed by the extra work and anxiety the pandemic had caused.

“Of all the negative things about the pandemic, the one valuable thing was that it was such a dramatic life shift that it opened up time for reflection and space for re-imagining new ways of doing things,” Jones says. "I think something like this could have been possible prior to the pandemic, but there was something about the confluence of all these different factors that just made it inevitable.”

One major concern for the agencies was making sure their clients felt reassured well in advance before the time off, and that the work ultimately wouldn’t be affected. The agencies say they met with clients months in advance to introduce the idea and plan to make sure the agencies didn’t miss a beat while closed.

“A majority of them were actually really appreciative and actually said ‘Maybe we will also consider doing something similar for our employees,’” Hooda says. “Our leaders were very robust in providing them feedback on exactly what the coverage will be, how it will be handled, and for the individuals that have to be on call during that week, they are going to get some time off the following week."

“The challenge always comes in making sure we're covered for work that can't stop— i.e., fixed tentpole moments like the Olympics,” a spokeswoman for Wieden + Kennedy added. “But our intent was to give enough notice/lead time to minimize the impact there. It's imperfect, but we'll continue to evolve this benefit with our employees' feedback to make it better.”

The Many and Mediabrands will also have employees on call for emergency purposes.

Be heard and recognized

While these initiatives are a good step forward, some say there is still a long way to go for the industry.

“Time off alone isn’t enough, just as ping-pong tables and office kegerators alone don’t make for good company culture,” says Christofer Peterson, senior VP of people and culture at Dagger. “People want to work in a place where they feel seen and heard and recognized. Evolve flexible work schedules to accommodate team members with caregiver responsibilities at home. Rethink routines and meeting cadences and explore new tools for collaboration and learning. Roll out activities and programs that promote team bonding and connectedness. And educate your managers on how to lead hybrid teams effectively and equitably.”

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Elizabeth Rosenberg, founder, of The Good Advice Co., says prioritizing mental health is about building boundaries.

"We have lived at work for a year-and-a-half and work has invaded all parts of our lives, Rosenberg says. “If we can't be encouraged to separate work and our personal lives we will continue to be on the fast-track to burnout. I would love to see companies give their employees mental health stipends that can be spent on everything from therapy to alternative forms of healing like reiki and meditation classes." 

Beyond Kind Week, Kinesso has brought on a psychologist, Dr. Kim Hires, on retainer. She is currently meeting one-on-one with executive and senior leadership teams where she helps with recognizing, coping, and recovering from burnout. The company is currently putting together an assessment to determine the frequency of meetings that will be most impactful for both employees and senior leaders.

'Invisible disability'

The Many has also worked on other initiatives such as providing every member of its team with a monthly stipend for mental health and well-being. This can range from fitness subscriptions to therapy to acupuncture to home workout equipment and more, according to a spokesman for the agency.

Nora DiNuzzo VP, business development at Smiths Agency, who recently wrote the agency’s return-to-office policy, is hopeful this focus on mental health will continue and believes the industry should never go back to a “one-size-fits-all" approach to working, and ones that do “risk losing out on top talent.”

“Mental health is a dimension of DE&I that employers don’t often consider," DiNuzzo says. "We physically see gender, race, age—but mental health is an invisible disability in the workplace that we don’t often stop to consider, because it’s just not in plain view. And there is definitely still a stigma about disclosing your mental health status, for fear of losing your job, missing out on a promotion due to a perception you can’t 'handle it'."

"I was promoted in 2020 while struggling with postpartum anxiety after the birth of my second child," she says, "and then the pandemic and some family health stresses on top of that. It certainly wasn’t an easy year for any of us."