Bastion gives employees extra annual leave to improve mental health and wellbeing

News 2 Sep 2021 - 2 min read

Bastion gives employees extra annual leave to improve mental health and wellbeing

By Sam Buckingham-Jones - Senior Writer

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Tags: Bastion Collective mental health Covid lockdown

In response to research showing the pandemic has had “profound” impacts on mental health and wellbeing for many Australians, indie agency Bastion has brought in Happy Days, extra annual leave days to create more long weekends.

What you need to know:

Indie agency Bastion has introduced Happy Days, extra annual leave days in months without preexisting long weekends. Employees will be granted an extra half-day in months that do have a long weekend.
The initiative comes after research showing the profound mental health and wellbeing challenges created by the pandemic.
The initiative will continue after lockdowns end.

Indie agency Bastion will give employees extra days off in the year in a bid to improve the mental health and wellbeing of those impacted by the pandemic.

Known as Happy Days, employees will be given an extra annual leave day in every month that doesn’t already have a long weekend. They’ll receive an extra half day in months where there is a long weekend.

The first Happy Day will be tomorrow, Friday 3 September, where Bastion will close all offices for the day.

The initiative, which started in Bastion Amplify – the group’s PR and Social Media agency, has been rolled out across the 200-plus Bastion employees.

It will continue after lockdowns end.