Johanna Bolin Tingvall’s Post

I love this initiative and how you guys at Spotify are leading the way to promote mental health. This topic is quite interesting though, and I see this as more of a short-term solution. Don't get me wrong, a week or two might do a lot for your rejuvenation. But if people don't take care of their mental health during the rest of the year, it's not gonna do that much. I know you guys are promoting everyday mental health as well. But my point is that the bigger focus often lands on these time-off periods rather than on taking care of your mental health daily, which is far more rewarding. Johanna

What’s going on in the system that a) makes leaders feel there’s a need for a ‘Wellness Week’ and b) makes leaders believe that this Week will fix something?

It'd be interesting to hear the employees feedback after this week Johanna Bolin Tingvall , how it was setup, are your partners and customers informed or even involved, How do they react to it? i mean if you are back from this week with only emergencies and unsatisfied people does it really serve the employee well being? Curious to hear more about it.

I've read the most relevant comments and what is clear is that people outside of Spotify are reacting to this one idea, this one decision, and saying that it doesn't fix everything. Wake up, people. You're in your own way and your closed minds are on center stage. Open up to the possibilities that Spotify's HR team has thought this through at a deeper level. Clearly, they can't list all their employee initiatives in this one post. It's part of a greater solution. This detox week is clearly something that was not meant to stand alone as a single solution for the entire year and the entirety of each employee's comprehensive wellness plan. C'mon people. Wake up and be a leader, not a hater.

First I think it is great that companies start to see "time off" as an investment rather than a cost. I agree with some that being in control of the week yourself would be great but one good thing does not rule out another. Where I work (in Sweden) we have 5 weeks of legally obliged vacation. Many companies add an extra week to that (where I work for example). Some of those vacation weeks are used in "vacation windows" where most people are off meaning you do not need to care about missing out on what is happening. On top of that we also close down the workplace here from time to time without people needing to use vacation days. It sounds like it becomes a lot of time off, but we are still in general a very efficient country and the secret lies more in what we actually spend time on when at work than if we are off a few days more/year. We still have too much burnout here as well. So core is still to take care of the time when at work. Are things meaningful? To you? To the group? Can you say no? Can you focus? Do you have all information you need to do a good job? Etc etc I am NOT saying this is a case at Spotify at all! Just making the point that "time off" is important but so is the "time on" :)

I don’t usually respond to negative banter on this platform but felt compelled this moment. We all know that a utopia is not realistic in a work environment and whether anyone wants to admit or not, most companies have culture challenges (and just because your company was recognized as a “great place to work” doesn’t negate workplace issue…I digress). But, who’s actually stopped to reflect on the world we’re living in right now and how exhausted people are from all the bullying, vitriol, mass shootings, racism…shall I go on? It’s a freakin lot! and any employer who cares enough to give their employees a break is company where I’d like to be. Kudos to you Spotify!

Wow, so many negative comments. This seems like a great initiative. Last year everybody at our company got an extra week paid leave between Christmas and New Years, as a thank you, for pulling through the corona times. It was great. Local newspapers wrote about it. People at other companies congratulated the decision to give everybody extra time off. The negative reactions in this comment field says more about the company culture at the other companies, than about Spotify.

Am I missing something here, or how is that special? In other parts of Europe, you get between 4 and 8 weeks of paid leave per year, and many organisations shut down for a week between Christmas and New Year.

That’s how you do PR to attract better talent. Think of what the talent really wants from a company they’re employed by — it’s not ping pong tables. Talent wants equity, emotionally intelligent leadership, autonomy wherever possible with clear indicatiors of how their work aligns to the company’s biggest initiative so that they understand the impact of their efforts. Also, a living wage that allows for savings of course lol 😂

I'm intrigued by this initiative, with KPIs not being able to be assessed how do you know if this actually has a positive effect on Mental Wellbeing? What about staff members that may possibly be experiencing domestic violence at home or may just be more unhappy at home than they are at work? A complete shut down of the company gives employees no flexibility. What if some employees had any reason to not want to take that time off? A more inclusive approach would be to award 5 well-being days that employees can take when they want or need. It would be more structured, it would fit the lifestyle of more people, it would be more productive and the company wouldn't have to shut down for a week.