Bumble closes its offices for a week to help staff manage burnout

The fully paid weeklong break is to say 'thank you' to staff of the company for their 'hard work and resilience' and also for them to de-stress.

In a now-deleted tweet, Head of Editorial content at Bumble, Clare O’Connor praised CEO, Whitney Wolfe Herd for the decision to offer staff a paid holiday:

[Whitney Wolfe Herd] gave all 700ish of us a paid week off having correctly intuited our collective burnout. In the US, especially where vacation days are notoriously scarce, it feels like a big deal.

This initiative also covers Badoo, another international dating app owned by Bumble.

Confirming this to Sky News, spokesperson for Bumble, Rosanna Sacks said:

Like everyone, our global team has had a very challenging time during the pandemic. As vaccination rates have increased and restrictions have begun to ease, we wanted to give our teams around the world an opportunity to shut off and focus on themselves for a week.

Growing trend in tech

Bumble, a dating app where women get to make the first move, has become known for its progressive values and workplace culture.

The move to close down its offices for a week comes at a time when companies are looking for ways to improve the work-life balance of their workers.

In April, LinkedIn gave its 16,000 staff a week off to unwind with executives pointing to a clear case of burnout among staff.

Bumble founder, 31-year-old Whitney Wolfe Herd recently made headlines as one of the youngest women heading a major startup which went public. In February, she carried her young son in her arms to ring in the occasion on the Nasdaq floor.