Have a break, have a KitKat day

So what the hell are KitKat days?

No, this isn’t about the tasty chocolate snack—but it is just as good. KitKat days are one of our favorite employee benefits at Dovetail. They’re extra days of paid leave for the whole company so that everyone can—you guessed it—take a break!

Just after the first lockdown here in Australia, as restrictions began to ease, we noticed our team had caught a serious case of lockdown fatigue. People hadn’t been taking leave, daily video conferencing was wearing everyone thin, and all this combined with the past months of heavy restrictions on people’s movement meant our people were in danger of burning out.

So, last year, on RUOK? Day, we introduced KitKat days to allow the whole company to switch off together (yes, that even means shutting off Slack). We wanted everyone to really feel permission to unwind and not think about work for the day. While we have tons of great benefits at Dovetail, I have to say, KitKat days are fast becoming a company favorite.

So why are they everyone’s favorite benefit?

OK, so I can’t speak for everyone, but I love KitKat days because of the emphasis it places on people’s mental well-being. Also, beyond allowing everyone to recharge their batteries and get their work-life balance in order, a day off goes a long way in thanking each person for their hard work throughout the year.

Since we launched the program, we’ve given our team 12 KitKat days, and we’ve since introduced KitKat afternoons on Fridays where everyone finishes up at 3 pm to kick off their weekends early. Often, we’ll combine a KitKat day with a public holiday weekend just to give our team that extra bit of time off, and we usually have a handful of KitKat days every quarter.

What’s more—we give KitKat days to all our employees over the Christmas break—that way, when we close the office down, no one has to take forced leave.

What does the team get up to on their KitKat day?

Earlier, I said I couldn’t speak for everyone about why we love KitKat days—but I can show you. In the video below, you’ll see our team taking advantage of their day off to pursue a wild diversity of interesting hobbies.

Looks like fun, doesn’t it? If you like what you see, why not mosey on over to our careers page and apply for one of our many open positions? Maybe next KitKat day, you can take a break, too.