If you thought tax season was the most stressful time of year for Americans, think again.
In a survey conducted by the American Heart Association last year, 63 percent of respondents considered the holidays more stressful than taxes, with 71 percent sharing that they walked away from the season regretting that they didn’t take enough time to relax.
Evidently, it can be hard for people to prioritize what matters most during this hectic time of year. And when people ignore what brings them joy, it’s more likely that they’ll experience burnout or other mental health challenges.
That’s why these 10 companies strive to make it easier for their people to navigate the holidays. Through a combination of fun, engaging events and generous time off, these organizations offer employees a chance to both connect with each other and fully recharge, so they come back to work in the new year feeling refreshed — and ready to thrive.
Below, team members describe how their companies make it easy to recharge during the holiday season, which promotes a healthy work-life balance for them and has positively impacted their experience.
Featured Companies
PagerDuty’s cloud-based technology helps organizations manage their digital operations, enabling them to identify disruptions, streamline operations and mobilize teams.
How does PagerDuty help team members recharge during the holiday season?
At PagerDuty, we’re committed to our employees’ holistic well-being, especially during the holidays. Our approach to helping our team recharge is exemplified by our holiday shutdown. Each December, “HibernationDuty” allows team members to fully disconnect and recharge for a week, while a small coverage crew maintains critical operations. This unique program offers employees precious time to refresh, reflect and create cherished memories with loved ones, free from work-related concerns.
“Each December, ‘HibernationDuty’ allows team members to fully disconnect and recharge for a week, while a small coverage crew maintains critical operations.”
In addition to HibernationDuty, PagerDuty offers four wellness days spread throughout the year. “Dutonians,” PagerDuty employees, are empowered to spend this paid personal time in whatever way they find most meaningful and restorative. We’ve also adopted a hybrid work model, balancing in-office collaboration with remote flexibility. This proves particularly valuable during the holiday season, enabling our team to seamlessly blend career objectives with meaningful moments alongside family and friends.
Why is this support important from a work-life balance perspective?
Healthy work-life balance is essential for both our employees’ well-being and our company’s success. While we offer comprehensive benefits covering health, retirement and family care, our primary focus is fostering an environment where Dutonians can thrive holistically. By supporting our employees in all aspects of their lives, we cultivate renewed energy, creativity and passion in their work. This approach helps prevent burnout and reduce stress — particularly during more hectic seasons.
Our philosophy aligns with our company’s purpose: empowering teams to build the future. By nurturing a culture of balance and support, we’re creating an environment where innovation flourishes and our team can achieve its best. This not only enhances productivity and creativity but also fosters loyalty and engagement. Moreover, our flexible policies enable Dutonians to meet both personal and professional commitments without compromise. By prioritizing work-life balance, we’re supporting our current team and attracting top talent who value a workplace that respects their whole selves.
What kind of feedback has your team received regarding this support during the holiday season? How has it positively impacted employees?
The feedback we’ve received about our support during the holiday season has been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, our flexible work arrangements, wellness days and supportive culture are consistently highlighted in employee engagement surveys as key contributors to a healthy work-life balance. Our engagement well-being score has increased year over year for three years in a row.
One of our core values, “Run Together,” has been particularly impactful. Employees often share how this value creates a collaborative environment where work is completed efficiently, allowing everyone to truly enjoy their time off. This teamwork ensures that when someone is on leave, they can disconnect without worry, knowing their colleagues have their back. We’ve heard numerous stories of Dutonians using their HibernationDuty time to pursue personal passions, reconnect with family or simply recharge. Many return feeling refreshed and more motivated, often bringing new ideas and perspectives to their work. This positive feedback reinforces our belief that supporting work-life balance, especially during the holidays, is crucial for both individual well-being and our collective success at PagerDuty.
Genius Sports’ software captures sports data, helping sports teams, leagues and other organizations enhance their performance and ensure their fans are connected to the right content.
How does Genius Sports help team members recharge during the holiday season?
We give all employees extra holiday days on top of their annual leave allowance. In the United States, that’s the day after Thanksgiving, and for all of our locations, it covers the days between Christmas and New Year’s. We recognize this is a period of down time for most businesses and an important time for people to rest and reset before the new year starts. By making it official and applying it to the whole business, our employees don’t feel guilty about not replying to emails and taking some extra time for themselves and their families.
“Within work, we also ensure we make time for team-based and officewide socials and celebrations in December and continue our focus on mental well-being initiatives and activities, which promote physical movement.”
This is coupled with an understanding attitude from our managers; we know people have a lot going on at this time of year outside of work, so they often need a bit more flexibility regarding their working schedule. Within work, we also ensure we make time for team-based and officewide socials and celebrations in December and continue our focus on mental well-being initiatives and activities, which promote physical movement.
Why is this support important from a work-life balance perspective?
Supporting our employees to achieve a good work-life balance is one of our key priorities at Genius Sports. Healthy employees are more likely to be productive, engaged employees. As a responsible employer, we do everything we can to care for our employees’ well-being and avoid common issues, such as burnout and stress. One of our really popular employee benefits in both the United States and United Kingdom is ClassPass. This gives employees access to a range of fitness, well-being and self-care services, such as massages or meditation sessions. Our employer contribution means each employee who takes this benefit can access a certain number of classes or services at no charge to them.
What kind of feedback has your team received regarding this support during the holiday season? How has it positively impacted employees?
We’ve seen a really positive reaction to our well-being offerings from our employees at Genius Sports. In our employee satisfaction survey, 83 percent of staff agree we take good care of their physical and mental well-being, and we rank above our peers in the technology industry on this. I also personally receive a lot of positive feedback directly from employees sharing their appreciation, particularly for the extra days off. Any communications I post about the extra things we’re doing to support well-being on our internal channels are always met with an overwhelmingly positive response.
Webflow’s platform enables marketers, designers and developers to build, manage and optimize websites without coding.
How does Webflow help team members recharge during the holiday season?
At Webflow, we prioritize well-being and rest by providing meaningful opportunities to recharge, especially during the holiday season. Our approach includes a winter shutdown between Christmas and New Year’s, ensuring employees can fully disconnect and enjoy the holidays without work interruptions. We complement this with a flexible PTO policy that empowers employees to take time off as needed, while strongly encouraging at least 15 days of annual leave to ensure meaningful rest. Additionally, our quarterly “refresh days” — companywide pauses — create opportunities for the entire team to recharge together. These initiatives reflect our belief that rest is essential to achieving sustained performance and fostering a healthy, high-performing culture.
Why is this support important from a work-life balance perspective?
High-performing teams thrive when they are given the time and space to recharge. At Webflow, we understand that intentional rest isn’t just beneficial — it’s a cornerstone of maintaining positive energy, focus and creativity. By providing a winter shutdown, flexible PTO and quarterly refresh days, we ensure our team has dedicated time to disconnect, reflect and reconnect with what matters most. These initiatives also address the unique challenges of working in a remote-first environment, where setting boundaries between work and personal life can be difficult. Supporting well-being through meaningful rest enables our team to perform at its best and approach work with renewed clarity and purpose.
“By providing a winter shutdown, flexible PTO and quarterly refresh days, we ensure our team has dedicated time to disconnect, reflect and reconnect with what matters most.”
What kind of feedback has your team received regarding this support during the holiday season? How has it positively impacted employees?
Feedback from our team consistently underscores the positive impact of our initiatives. The winter shutdown, for example, is praised for allowing employees to fully unplug and spend time with family and friends without the stress of work obligations. The flexible PTO policy provides employees with the autonomy to tailor time off to their individual needs, while the quarterly refresh days create collective opportunities for rest, fostering a shared sense of well-being across the organization.
For high-performing teams, meaningful breaks aren’t optional — they’re essential. These intentional pauses contribute to sustained energy, sharper decision-making and stronger collaboration. By embedding rest into our culture, we’ve created an environment where employees can excel both personally and professionally, ready to take on challenges with resilience and enthusiasm.
Mirakl’s platform enables retailers and B2B businesses to drive greater product development, revenue and efficiency.
How does Mirakl help team members recharge during the holiday season?
At Mirakl, we place great importance on ensuring our employees can fully enjoy the holiday season. We encourage them to take advantage of this time to step away from work, focus on their loved ones and recharge. To make the season even more special, we also organize a large year-end celebration, bringing everyone together to reflect on the year’s successes and share a moment of conviviality.
Additionally, in the United States, we offer more paid time off than the industry average, providing employees with the opportunity to truly rest and disconnect. As a French company, we also emphasize the right to disconnect, a value reinforced by our top managers, who set an example by fully delegating responsibilities and refraining from responding to emails while on vacation. These initiatives ensure our teams feel supported in achieving a healthy balance between work and personal life.
Why is this support important from a work-life balance perspective?
Prioritizing time for employees to recharge during the holidays reflects our dedication to fostering well-being and balance. This season is an opportunity for our teams to focus on what matters most — family, friends and personal moments — without the stress of work demands. Events like our year-end celebration further reinforce a sense of connection and community, ensuring everyone feels valued and supported both in and outside of work.
“Events like our year-end celebration further reinforce a sense of connection and community, ensuring everyone feels valued and supported both in and outside of work.”
In a company with strong ambitions, maintaining a work-life balance is critical to keeping our teams engaged and motivated over the long term. To support this, we require managers to discuss work-life balance with their teams twice a year, providing a structured opportunity to address concerns and find solutions tailored to individual needs.
What kind of feedback has your team received regarding this support during the holiday season? How has it positively impacted employees?
Our employees have shared how much they appreciate these initiatives, describing them as meaningful ways to end the year on a positive note. For example, the year-end celebration has become a highlight for many, with employees emphasizing how it strengthens bonds across teams and provides a sense of accomplishment and gratitude as the year wraps up.
In the United States, employees have expressed their gratitude for the additional time off, which allows them to fully enjoy the holiday season with their families. Likewise, the emphasis on the right to disconnect has been well-received across all regions, as it empowers employees to prioritize their well-being. As a company that values commitment and excellence, we recognize the importance of taking a step back to recharge and reflect. These moments of rest and disconnection are essential for our teams to return energized, motivated and ready to embrace the challenges of 2025 with confidence.
Chapter’s technology is designed to help seniors navigate the complexities of Medicare and minimize costs associated with it.
How does Chapter help team members recharge during the holiday season?
Rest and recharge is critical to having a high-performing team achieve all that is in front of them. In reality, it’s extremely difficult to do this when some part of the company is working while others are trying to recharge. Great people often have a hard time unplugging, and it’s all too easy to be pulled in by a Slack message here and there or want to check in to see how an important project is moving along. This is why Chapter believes it’s so critical for a company shutdown during this time. This allows our team to rest, recover, spend time with friends and family and celebrate a successful year — and the end of a very busy enrollment season. No emails. No Slack messages. No work. Focus on yourself so you can come back and create impact for our members in the new year.
Why is this support important from a work-life balance perspective?
The work we do is hard, challenging and important. Being able to balance what is needed for each person to take care of themselves so they can be their best selves is critical to continuing to charge at a startup pace. Work stops during this time; there are no Slack messages or emails being sent. This gives every person the space and time to do what they need to take care of themselves. It’s also worth noting a single company shutdown at the end of the year is not enough, which is why we also offer unlimited PTO and encourage employees to take at least two weeks off over the course of the year in addition to company holidays.
“Work stops during this time; there are no Slack messages or emails being sent. This gives every person the space and time to do what they need to take care of themselves.”
What kind of feedback has your team received regarding this support during the holiday season? How has it positively impacted employees?
“Chapterians” are appreciative and agree shutting the company down is a deeply important reset for the full team to go into the next year in a strong position. Employees come into the new year energized, excited and ready to hit the ground running.
Strive Health works with payors and providers to provide care for patients with kidney disease, guided by the aim to improve patient outcomes and lower the total cost of care.
How does Strive Health help team members recharge during the holiday season?
At Strive, we understand the importance of creating opportunities for our employees to rest and recharge, especially during the holiday season. To support this, we offer paid holidays and provide uncapped flexible time off to all employees. Employees work with their manager to schedule appropriate vacation time off, allowing them to focus on personal priorities. For those who work during the holidays, we implement light working weeks wherever possible, ensuring manageable workloads and promoting balance, or provide holiday pay. Holidays also bring up inevitable post-gathering illnesses, so we offer 10 sick days annually that can be used for a myriad of reasons, ensuring employees have adequate sick time each year to recover as needed.
Although our workforce is spread across the United States, we foster a festive atmosphere with in-person and virtual team events around the holidays to create a season of joy while respecting our team’s diverse needs and traditions. Some examples include year-end awards, trivia, gingerbread house decorating contests and volunteer opportunities.
“Although our workforce is spread across the United States, we foster a festive atmosphere with in-person and virtual team events around the holidays to create a season of joy while respecting our team’s diverse needs and traditions.”
Why is this support important from a work-life balance perspective?
Supporting our employees during the holiday season is an extension of our belief in our core value of care — not only for patients but for our team members. Healthcare is a demanding field, and the holidays can add an extra layer of emotional and physical stress. By prioritizing work-life balance, we empower our employees to recharge, remain engaged and maintain their own well-being. This focus reduces stress, prevents burnout and shows our commitment to supporting employees with the same care and compassion they provide to our patients. A well-rested team leads to better care, a stronger sense of purpose and a thriving workplace culture.
What kind of feedback has your team received regarding this support during the holiday season? How has it positively impacted employees?
Employees appreciate paid holidays, noting that this tangible benefit makes them feel valued and supported. It’s particularly important to have days when most — if not all — employees in the company are off at once so that employees can fully log off and not feel the need to respond to others who are working. These efforts create memorable experiences for employees and deepen our connection to our core value of care, ensuring our team is supported year-round.
Gradient AI’s AI solutions are designed to improve loss ratios and profitability for group health providers, property and casualty insurance providers and workers’ compensation providers.
How does Gradient AI help team members recharge during the holiday season?
This year, we introduced “recharge days” — dedicated days off for all staff to take a break from work. We understand how hard our employees have been working, and we want to ensure their efforts don’t go unnoticed. We’ve offered extended weekends during the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving, and we’re excited to continue this practice during the upcoming holiday season. Our goal is to give everyone the opportunity to fully relax and recharge, so they can return to work feeling refreshed and energized.
Why is this support important from a work-life balance perspective?
Providing recharge days is crucial for fostering a healthy work-life balance. By actively prioritizing time off and supporting mental health, we’re helping our team avoid burnout and maintain long-term productivity and engagement. This approach also reinforces that we value our employees as individuals, not just for their work output, creating a culture of trust and well-being.
“Providing recharge days is crucial for fostering a healthy work-life balance.”
What kind of feedback has your team received regarding this support during the holiday season? How has it positively impacted employees?
The feedback we’ve received has been overwhelmingly positive. Many employees have expressed how much they appreciate the recharge days. One team member shared that the extra time off allowed them to take a much-needed break and reconnect with family, which made a noticeable difference in their focus and motivation upon returning to work. Another employee mentioned that having long weekends throughout the year has helped them manage stress better and maintain a more consistent work-life balance. Overall, the recharge days have not only helped to reduce burnout but have also increased employee satisfaction and engagement.
HopSkipDrive partners with school districts, child welfare agencies and nonprofits to provide transportation to vulnerable communities, providing an app that offers end-to-end visibility into trips.
How does HopSkipDrive help team members recharge during the holiday season?
Our company prioritizes our team members’ well-being, especially during the holiday season. To help everyone recharge, we close between Christmas and New Year’s, giving all employees a well-deserved break to rest and spend time with loved ones.
“To help everyone recharge, we close between Christmas and New Year’s, giving all employees a well-deserved break to rest and spend time with loved ones.”
Additionally, we’ve hosted wellness workshops focused on managing burnout, equipping our team with tools to maintain balance. During the holidays, we also embrace the festive spirit with thoughtful company gifts and vibrant interest groups on Slack. For example, our crafting Slack channel group organizes holiday ornaments exchanges, fostering a sense of community and fun. These initiatives reflect our commitment to creating a supportive and joyful environment for our team.
Why is this support important from a work-life balance perspective?
This support is vital from a work-life balance perspective because it ensures that team members have dedicated time to step away from work, recharge, and focus on personal well-being during a season that can be both joyful and demanding. Closing the office between Christmas and New Year’s guarantees everyone can rest and spend meaningful time with loved ones without work pressures. Hosting wellness workshops on managing burnout gives employees practical strategies to maintain balance during the holidays and throughout the year.
Holiday initiatives like company gifts and engaging Slack group events, such as the baking group’s cookie exchange, foster connections and create moments of joy beyond work responsibilities. These efforts help cultivate a culture where employees feel personally and professionally supported, reinforcing the importance of balance and overall well-being. In the long run, this kind of support encourages sustainable engagement, productivity and happiness and assures a promising future for both the individual and the organization.
What kind of feedback has your team received regarding this support during the holiday season? How has it positively impacted employees?
We’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback from employees about “HopSkipHoliday.” Many have shared that a synchronized break ensures no work piles up in their absence, significantly reducing stress. Employees have also expressed appreciation for the opportunity to be more present during the holidays, which allows them to fully enjoy time with loved ones, including more space to travel to those who live far away. These sentiments highlight how HopSkipHoliday supports work-life harmony, a key value we hold dear, and encourages meaningful contributions outside the workplace.
Terakeet helps Fortune 500 brands optimize and unify their own assets, enabling them to connect meaningfully with their customers, decrease customer acquisition costs and grow their businesses.
How does Terakeet help team members recharge during the holiday season?
At Terakeet, we prioritize giving our employees the time and support they need to recharge and enjoy the holiday season. That’s why we provide paid vacation for everyone during the week between December 24 and January 1, so our team can relax and spend quality time with their loved ones. Beyond that, we offer a health and wellness stipend and an employee assistance program, which are available year-round but often provide crucial support during this sometimes hectic time of year. To foster connection and joy leading up to the holidays, we also host a variety of cultural events that bring our team together. These include a fundraiser for The Boys & Girls Clubs, a holiday-themed trivia event and a cookie recipe exchange. It’s all part of our commitment to creating a supportive workplace where employees can thrive both personally and professionally.
Why is this support important from a work-life balance perspective?
We recognize that the holiday season, while joyful, can also bring added stress from end-of-year goals, financial pressures, emotional demands and other challenges. That’s why we’re committed to providing meaningful support to help our employees maintain their well-being both at work and in their personal lives. By offering engaging activities and wellness-focused initiatives, we aim to ease some of these seasonal pressures. These efforts help our employees feel supported, cared for and empowered to manage stress while prioritizing their overall health. Creating this balance not only helps our team enjoy the season but also allows them to return recharged, motivated and ready to perform at their best in the new year.
“By offering engaging activities and wellness-focused initiatives, we aim to ease some of these seasonal pressures.”
What kind of feedback has your team received regarding this support during the holiday season? How has it positively impacted employees?
Our holiday shutdown began during the pandemic as a way to show gratitude to our employees for their resilience during an exceptionally challenging time. Initially intended as a one-time gesture, the overwhelmingly positive feedback we received made it clear just how valuable this time off was. Employees shared how much they appreciated the opportunity to unwind, disconnect and spend quality time with their loved ones. Based on that feedback, we made the holiday shutdown a permanent part of our benefits package. It’s now a cornerstone of our commitment to work-life balance, complementing our unlimited paid time off policy and ensuring our team has the time they need to recharge and focus on what matters most.
Osano’s platform enables organizations to build, manage and scale data privacy programs, providing support with data subject rights, vendor risk management and more.
How does Osano help team members recharge during the holiday season?
Each December, we designate the last week of the year as a “no-meeting week,” pausing weekly one-on-ones, team check-ins and companywide gatherings. This intentionality gives our “Osanians” time to focus on important tasks — or simply enjoy quality time with loved ones — without the pull of scheduled meetings.
We also reflect and celebrate together. Our final all-hands meeting of the year highlighted cross-functional wins and individual contributions in a year-in-review format. This year, we also experimented with a virtual holiday party with interactive spaces designed for fun and connection, encouraging employees to share meaningful moments from 2024 and time together.
As a token of appreciation, every employee receives a holiday gift through partnerships with mission-driven, B-Corp companies, such as Bombas, Uncommon Goods and, this year, Gifts for Good. This highlights our effort to show genuine appreciation while contributing to causes that align with our own B-corp mission and values.
Why is this support important from a work-life balance perspective?
At Osano, we believe rest and recharge aren’t just perks — they’re essential for caring for our mental health and driving personal and professional success. The holiday season can be both joyful and demanding, so we’ve implemented thoughtful practices that help our fully remote team pause, reflect and reconnect when it matters most.
Balancing work and life is especially important during the holiday season, when personal commitments and year-end deadlines often collide. By removing meetings and offering meaningful holiday perks, we create space for employees to step back, recharge and focus on what matters most — themselves, their family and each other. Encouraging rest goes beyond recharging; it’s about creating an environment where employees feel supported and return excited, ready to tackle new challenges.
“By removing meetings and offering meaningful holiday perks, we create space for employees to step back, recharge and focus on what matters most — themselves, their family and each other.”
What kind of feedback has your team received regarding this support during the holiday season? How has it positively impacted employees?
Throughout the year, our Osanians shared how no-meeting weeks help them make the most of their time, whether they’re taking time off or enjoying deep focus work. This flexibility allows our Osanians to take time off, have longer lunches with loved ones, enjoy extended walks with their dogs or co-work while traveling — all without the pressure and demands of recurring meetings. This is why, outside of our quarterly no-meeting weeks, we continue to make it possible around the holidays.
Personally, I valued having uninterrupted time with my family and experiencing my one-year-old’s first holiday season. I know these moments are the ones we can never get back, especially when children are young, so being able to unplug, celebrate and still balance my responsibilities at work made the season feel truly special.
By listening and adapting based on team feedback, we continuously enhance our holiday season initiatives, ensuring that rest, recognition, and connection remain at the heart of our culture.
