OYO Rooms founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal announced on Twitter that the company will be switching to a 4-day workweek. The change in policy comes as the company focuses on improving the mental and physical wellbeing of its employees especially as the country is grappling with the worst surge of COVID-19 pandemic ever seen.
Agarwal said on Twitter, “Starting today we are moving to a 4 day work week but implementing it slightly differently, making Wednesdays off to let OYOpreneurs have a mid-week breather. We also launched a No Questions Asked Flexible Infinite Paid Leaves.”
2/ Starting today we are moving to a 4 day work week but implementing it slightly differently, making Wednesdays off to let OYOpreneurs have a mid-week breather. We also launched a No Questions Asked Flexible Infinite Paid Leaves.
— Ritesh Agarwal (@riteshagar) May 12, 2021
In a series of tweets, Agarwal highlighted the importance of people having time for themselves and their family.
Agarwal dropped out of college to fully commit to building OYO, currently one of India’s largest hospitality chains, in 2013. Agarwal has helped OYO reach a valuation of $8 billion as of last year.
Agarwal also added, “Take off when you want, no need to log them, just let the manager know, no reasons needed, none asked. We are not going to stress about business impact and deadlines. We know work will not suffer, if anything OYOpreneurs will be more focused, efficient, and productive.”
His move for OYO comes at a time where there has been global discourse on employee wellbeing and a shift in work schedules as the world moves to a work-from-home and more worker-centric flexible mode of working. There have been countless research recently regarding the increase in productivity, along with benefits to the economy as a whole due to offices shifting to a 4-day workweek.
