Every Other Friday Off

Big news. If you work at Inkhouse, you get every other Friday off. Flexible Fridays begin on January 1, 2022. If it’s your Friday, you just need to be available by text for questions and emergencies. No tether to email or Slack. 

Will this go perfectly? Hell no, but one of our values is that we don’t confuse progress with process, so we’re piloting this in Q1 and we’ll adjust as we go. But while we’re at it, we’re going to go ahead and close during the week of July 4th (who’s actually working then anyway?). It’s been working for us for the week between Christmas and New Year’s for years now. 

It’s risky, sure. But I love this stuff because if it works we are a part of defining and shaping how our industry moves forward. Plus, it’s been our thing to reinvent the PR agency culture. When I founded Inkhouse 15 years ago, I had a simple mission: create an agency that didn’t suck. And now the whole world wants workplaces that don’t suck. They don’t have to! I’ve been out to prove that we can create a wildly successful workplace that clients rely on for strategy and results, while also providing a workplace that helps people live fulfilling lives (because, by the way, that makes us better at our jobs). 

What’s good for people really is good for business. Our mission has been to provide our people with the stuff that matters:

• Agency. A voice. To be heard and seen and valued.
• Opportunity. No one wants a job. They want careers. We want to help people to find their creative edge and stay on it and our career planning coaching is just getting started.
• Flexibility. To work in the way that works best for you. And where you want. 
• Community. Real community where you can come as you are (download our book of employee essays about resilience). 

When we banned email between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., people on the outside were skeptical. What will clients think? The same thing happened when we began offering unlimited vacation. They wondered what we’d do if people took advantage of it. These are the wrong questions (and I think two people have complained — over the course of seven years). If there’s a problem, it means there’s a performance issue, or unreasonable expectations. Because one of our values is “We use good judgment” and another is “We’re accountable” (most people do and are). 

Here are the new benefits we’re offering for 2022:

• Flexible Fridays. We split the team in half and you get every other Friday off 
• Closed the week of July 4 (in addition to the week between Christmas and New Year’s)
• 20 weeks of paid parental leave (and why we support paid leave)
• Two weeks of bereavement leave for those who experience the heartbreak of miscarriage or pregnancy loss in the first 20 weeks (after that period, our standard parental leave applies).
• $2,500 5-year anniversary bonus

Things we’ll continue to offer:

• A flexible, hybrid workplace. Come in when you want. Use your good judgment. 
• Opportunities to gather as a team, like our annual company offsites
• Unlimited vacation (and why we actually want you to use it!)
• No email between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. (a policy we first introduced in 2014)
• 10-year anniversary 6-week sabbatical 
• The full list of existing benefits is here 

A good workplace begins with mutual trust, so here we go into the unknown future. We’re feeling good about our chances.