We started 2021 with a sense of relief, joy, and optimism. Since January we’ve welcomed new employees throughout our functions, rolled out new product releases, and continued to make progress towards our purpose of cultivating a kinder world where everyone has a neighborhood they can rely on.
Throughout the pandemic, mental health has been a top priority among our leadership team and our employees. In a time where stress is top of mind, we are grateful for a variety of resources, especially our partnership with Modern Health, which offers employees access to a guided meditation library, sessions with therapists and expert coaches, as well as administers a well-being assessment.
As we wrapped up Q1, we were pleased to hear the announcement at our weekly company-wide “All Hands” meeting that April 9th would be recognized as a Mental Health Day! Similar to our end of year company shutdown, the idea is that there is no work — no emails, no Slacks, no phone calls, no meetings. The only ask was for employees to rest, recharge, and enjoy the day off.
Check out some of the ways our employees spent their day off:
“For the Mental Health Day I took a little road trip to San Diego with my corgi pup, Dame Maggie Smith (pictured), to visit family and get some sun and heat. It was a nice and relaxing long weekend and Maggie enjoyed having more space to run around!” Scott Whitcomb – Head of Accounting
“Days of solid wind and water time with friends and finally getting my foiling dialed — I loved every minute.” Elena Luneva – Lead, Product
“Spent Mental Health Day with a trip to Guerneville for kayaking the Russian River! I’ve never seen it before and it was beautiful… A hidden gem of the Bay Area and only 80 minutes from SF!” Andrew Munn – Lead, Software Engineering
“I went on a short backpacking trip at Hetch Hetchy reservoir. The reservoir was at especially low levels since we’ve had a really dry winter in California. But waterfalls were still flowing!” Alice Fong – Finance & Strategy
“It was a beautiful evening — hiking up Mission Peak with our 5 month old. Parenting is making us much efficient hikers… We need to be up and down quickly before the baby gets fussy! Thankful to be able to enjoy the lush green East Bay hills. Unfortunately, it’s been another dry winter for California and this would be brown soon. Hoping the wildfire season goes easy here and everywhere else this year!” Riya Singh – Lead, Software Engineering
“Mental Health Day was spent cruising around Brooklyn, finding new views with Jenny, my girlfriend. We’re big fans of the micro-mobility movement and spend most days off exploring new snacks, creating paths, and having conversations with familiar and random people throughout the city!” Hakim Myers – Recruiter
“This day worked out perfectly with a vacation I had planned! My family went to visit our parents in Europe, whom we haven’t seen in almost 2 years. This day in particular was spent biking and creating playdough animals with the grandparents. Having a day off for a whole company, when you know you don’t need to catch up on things that others did while you were out is a gamechanger! More of this please – let’s make it a tradition!” Timea Bara – Head of Sales Enablement
We feel grateful to have such a supportive leadership team who has served as a beacon of light as we have navigated work from home for the past year. While promoting a balance between work and home life as well as providing access to mental health resources, the extra day off was the perfect way to give back to employees as we celebrated the end of Q1 and the successful start to the new year!
