Meesho announces 10-day company-wide break for staff post festive season

The 10-day company-wide work break is the first ever move by an Indian startup to prioritise employee well-being and mental health support, the firm said

Social commerce unicorn Meesho on Wednesday announced a "Rest & Recharge" policy for its employees to catch a break after the hectic upcoming festive season.

Meesho employees, company-wide, will get a break between November 4-14 "to completely unplug from work — to rest and rejuvenate. The 10-day company-wide work break is an industry-first move by an Indian startup to prioritise employee wellbeing and mental health support," the firm said in a statement.

"The pandemic reflected the need to go back to the basics, be understanding and empathetic to each other. This holds true for companies as well. For Meesho, the well-being of its employees and their families has been its top priority. Since the onset of the pandemic, Meesho has implemented multiple initiatives to ensure they have all the support they need. Some of these included a four-day work week in May, during the peak of the second-wave, a MeeCare reimbursement package to cover all expenses incurred during home quarantine and hospitalisation, setting up of a Rs 5 crore corpus for Covid care financial support, vaccination drives for employees and dependents, among several other efforts," the company said.

In April, Meesho announced a $300 million fundraise led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, valuing the firm at $2.1 billion. The Bengaluru-based hit the headlines in 2019 for being the first company in India that attracted investment from Facebook, and has since grown immensly in the social commerce category.

Born in December 2015, Meesho's goal is simple- to help small businesses get online and sell through social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram. Dedication and focus on execution also earned Meesho the 14th place in Fast Company's list of "The world's 50 most innovative companies -2020". The top spot went to Snap, Microsoft and Tesla, but Meesho was followed by Spotify.