New York Times Giving Days Off for ‘Exhaustion’

It appears the New York Times will be giving employees days off the combat “exhaustion.”

According to The Washington Free Beacon:

Taylor Lorenz, the controversial teen culture correspondent, and other New York Times employees will be awarded several “Global Days Off” this year in an effort to combat “exhaustion [and] burnout” in the professional journalism community, the paper’s executives announced this week.

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“Recognizing how hard the past year has felt, we’re announcing the launch of quarterly Global Days Off for the remaining three quarters of 2021,” executive editor Dean Baquet and other members of the Times leadership team wrote in a memo to staff on Wednesday.

The goal of the initiative, according to the memo, is to “create a few moments to reset as we have just come through a difficult period that has produced a sense of exhaustion, burnout, and a need for respite for many.” The special days off, which all fall on Fridays, have been scheduled for May 14, Aug. 13, and Nov. 5 and will be in addition to existing time off for vacation, personal days, and holidays.

The decision to make the days off “global,” as in companywide, was motivated by leadership’s desire to “meaningfully reduce the flow of emails, Slacks and texts, and give everyone a quiet day to refresh.” Some employees, however, will not be able to take those days in order to keep the organization functioning and will instead be given an equal number of days off to use at their discretion.

The announcement follows many public resignations citing burnout.