Series - Adaptation and agility in times of a crisis

Social impact professionals are on the verge of burnout — these organizations radically changed their work culture to help

Author Jacky Habib
Some social impact organizations have given their team members unlimited sick days, shifted to a 4-day work week, and cancelled annual performance reviews

Why It Matters

Canadian Mental Health Week provides an opportunity to practice values and restructure organizational goals, which can ultimately lead to increased performance and better outcomes. While some of these measures are unconventional in the non-profit sector, the stakes are high, as deteriorating mental health may lead to employee burnout.

This story is in partnership with Innoweave. 

Last March, Cheyanne Lobo’s father was amongst thousands of Canadians who were stranded in India, unable to return to Canada as flights out of India were suspended. 

“It was a very stressful period in my life,” says Lobo, the marketing coordinator at JAYU, an arts-based human rights charity. Lobo, who spent weeks strategizing with other family members on how to get her dad home, said she was able to better focus on this family emergency largely because she was only working four days a week.

Along with all other staff at JAYU, she’d shifted to a four-day work week in early 2020, before the pandemic hit — which further reinforced the need for a better work/life balance. 

JAYU’s four-day work week is only one example of the ways social impact organizations have changed their practices

 

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