Last week, Integrity Web Consulting partners John Simanowitz and Ed Morrissey told employees that they will be providing an additional two weeks of paid time off (PTO) over the holiday season. This announcement comes as the St. Louis region is reaching all-time highs of COVID-19 cases.
The company-wide benefit is designed to be a specific time for all employees to rest, relax and focus on their mental health.
“We have been working from home since mid-March. It’s really hard to ‘turn off’ work when work is in your home,” founder and CEO, John Simanowitz said. “Our employees have been working harder than ever before for longer than ever before without the regular vacations of pre-COVID life. We want to make sure everyone gets that mental break — this year more than ever.”
Integrity has long embraced an open, self-managed paid time off policy. Leading up to the pandemic, all employees had the freedom to take time off whenever they needed, as often as they needed, as long as they were meeting their billable hours requirements.
However, since the pandemic began, Integrity employees have been taking noticeably less time off and working more nights and weekends.
“As the leading UX design, web development and digital marketing consultancy in St. Louis, Integrity is no stranger to adapting to an ever-changing industry,” said partner and CCO, Ed Morrissey. “Whether it’s staying ahead of the curve on the latest technology for our clients or creating new benefits that best serve our employees, we are always looking for ways to be better than we were yesterday. A company is nothing but the people within it, and we will do everything we can to keep them happy, healthy and safe.”
Integrity plans to implement the additional company-wide PTO from December 20, 2020 through January 1, 2021.
“While we love giving our team new tech each year as a holiday gift, 2020 is a unique situation. This year what our team needs most is to rest, relax, watch Netflix, spend time with their loved ones and — most importantly — not think about the craziness of 2020,” said Morrissey. “Then we’ll collectively come back in 2021 fully refreshed and ready to kill it for our clients.”
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