As many employers aim to make mental health a top priority this year, sister agencies GroundFloor Media and CenterTable have taken things a step further: In addition to mental health days, the agencies give employees cash and extra time to relax.

Initiatives include “zero entry Mondays” and “fast exit Fridays,” which aim “to give people that pause” between workdays and the weekend, said Laura Love, founder of GFM, a marketing agency, and co-founder of CenterTable, a digital agency. The two agencies are based in Denver.

“Zero entry Mondays,” created in 2015, means that employees don’t have to come into the office on Mondays. This pause aims to help people deal with the Sunday scaries by allowing them to transition slowly into the week, said Love.

“Fast exit Fridays,” started in December 2022, acknowledges the idea that employees just want to get out the door to start the weekend, said Love.

Along with quarterly mental health days, the agencies—which are separate legal entities but market services as an integrated agency—also give each employee a “happiness allowance” of $600 a year to spend on anything that makes them happy.

To help get through economically challenging times over the past few years, Love said the organization has prioritized not laying anyone off and being transparent about growth plans. Love has experience managing an agency through rocky times: She founded GroundFloor Media in 2001 amid a recession after the dot-com bubble.

Love and her business partner, Ramonna Robinson, will lead a “state of agency” meeting prior to the company's annual Groundhog Day party in early February that will outline the company’s goals for growth. “When you can lay out a vision to team members and how they play a role, there is a comfort level being part of an organization that is forward-thinking,” Love said.

The company also has continued charitable giving through its nonprofit The Get Grounded Foundation. This “creates a sense of stability” for employees by showing things are proceeding as normal, Love said.

What will set apart GFM and CenterTable as a Best Place to Work amid the challenges of 2023?

GFM Founder Laura Love: “We are and always have had a people-first culture, in which we put people over profits. We have also been fortunate to survive several economic downturns and a pandemic without any layoffs, so unlike others, we have the experience on how to plan and adjust accordingly.”