“In the process of trying to make Lovelight a workplace that fights to protect mental wellness we came up with the idea of adding more long weekends into the second half of the year. Traditionally all the public holidays are in the first half and we thought we could add four extra long weekends to the second half. Thus the LDO was born”  - Jason Lewis

We’re sure it comes as no surprise to those reading this that plenty of factors currently have a huge impact on the current jobs and hiring landscape. There are the effects of Covid, the skilled migrant shortage as well as the ‘great resignation’ where so many are walking away from workplaces that have not necessarily supported them through these past few years. All of which has culminated in a super competitive talent search. This, compounded with the mental health and well-being crisis that we are currently in the throws of, has led the Lovelight leadership team to come up with a drastic new idea.

Jason Lewis describes how “we needed to find new and innovative ways to attract and retain team members. To truly mesh with our culture we felt these ideas needed to hit on the core values of the business and not just be ‘easy’ wins.” The team, lead by Lovelight’s new talent recourse superstar Julia, met and brainstormed ways to “make Lovelight a destination workplace as well as a workplace that fights to protect your mental wellness.”

Originally the team considered giving everyone four extra annual leave days. Whilst they felt that this would go some of the way towards fostering a healthier work-life balance, they also considered that many team members were already not taking their full annual leave allowance and when they do so many still find it hard to entirely “switch off” when the rest of their team are still at work.

“So, taking our cue from the construction industry, which we work so closely with - we came up with the idea of replicating RDO’s -or Rostered Days off - with LDO’s or Lovelight Days off.” Essentially these are four days, attached to weekends throughout the second half of the year, where the entire company shuts down. “By giving everyone the same days off, and making the LDO’s a part of our culture, we can all get excited together, discuss what our plans are for the upcoming LDO weekends and most importantly insure that everyone is off email and not feeling the pull to respond to internal communications.”

As the LDO’s will create four extra long weekends in the second half of the year, everyone at Lovelight can start planning getaways and time to focus on their mental and physical health. Of course, the team’s response to being informed about this initiative was both heartwarming and reassuring that it was the right move for the business. “They were excited and honestly a bit emotional, I think they could tell how much we valued their efforts. Most importantly, they loved it and immediately started planning for the first one. Izzy, for example, has already planned a ski trip and Josh is off on a family trip to Canberra.”

“We wanted to send a clear message to our team, customers and suppliers about how important we believe mental health is. We think this message is amplified by taking the days off together.”