These staffers get leave to self-reflect

‘Inner Work Days’ Make Employees More Effective, Finds Company
Silicon Valley tech companies are famous for unlimited vacation policies. It’s a perk — like fancy fizzy water — that has become table stakes for startups trying to recruit top talent. One company, though, is pushing that time-off benefit even further.

BetterUp — a San Franciscobased startup that connects professional coaches with those seeking career advice — has been giving its employees five days off a year to ditch their standard day job and instead, take the day to work on themselves.


Dubbed “inner work days”, these five days are spread throughout the year, with everyone at BetterUp taking the same day off (often on a Monday, to extend a weekend). Some use the free days to meditate or go on hikes. Others stay inside to read. Some go on a digital detox, not checking their phones, emails, or Instagram throughout the day.

The point, BetterUp co-founder and CEO Alexi Robichaux said, is to give employees dedicated time for self-reflection.

“Most of the work we do in our life is outside of us,” Robichaux said. “But part of being a professional, especially in the creative economy, is like, we have to work on ourselves.“ BetterUp began the tradition two years ago, when the company had around 30 employees. Today, all of BetterUp's 150-plus employees participate and many share their experiences on the company’s dedicated Slack channel for “inner work day” highlights.

Jacinta Jimenez, BetterUp’s head of coaching, said the company believes the dedicated time off for self-reflection makes employees more effective when they get back to their desks.

“If we don’t give our brains time to think, it’s going to compromise how we make decisions, show up at work, at home, all around,” Jimenez said.

BetterUp’s “inner work days” are not a cunning rebranding of vacation that employees were already entitled to. The offices still shut down for all the major national holidays, and the company says it encourages employees to take at least two weeks off every year as part of its vacation policy.

Robichaux also thinks “inner work days” are important specifically for BetterUp, given that they’re in the business of helping people advance their careers through coaching services.