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The new workplace trade-off: Employers are offering ‘recharge days’ to soften the blow of return to office

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Henry Ford brought the 40-hour workweek to the Western world nearly a century ago, believing that giving workers eight hours of labor, eight hours of recreation, and eight hours of rest would improve retention and morale.

However, between commutes, school runs, and last-minute holdbacks at the office, it took a pandemic-induced global shutdown to realize that 8-8-8 had slowly morphed into something more like 12-6-6. Working from home briefly allowed workers to claw back some of that time.

Now, as leaders increasingly order staff back to the office, they’re sweetening the deal by giving them some time back.

Jackson Healthcare (No. 99), Intuit (No. 78), Sheetz (No. 40), and many others provide workers with wellness centers where they can exercise, receive nutrition advice, or even talk through their mental health struggles.

Nonprofit health care provider Wellstar Health System (No. 93) has an extensive range of benefits aimed at giving its 28,000 workers a breather, including 16 “wellness rooms” across major locations. The spa-like spaces come complete with massage chairs, calming music, and healthy snacks. It has proved popular with employees, and turnover last year decreased by 10%.

What’s more, the company is even paying workers up to $310 a year to prioritize well-being. Intuit similarly rewards employees for taking care of their health with a $1,300 annual Well-Being for Life reimbursement, which can be used for purchases such as a treadmill.

Other firms are more tangibly putting time to recharge back in the hands of their staff with literal days off the job to do exactly that.

The luxury Palm Beach resort the Breakers (No. 63) offers a four-day week when it’s fully staffed. Not only does that give workers respite, but, the company explains, it prevents overstaffing during slower periods. Meanwhile, Fannie Mae (No. 12) offers staff Flex Fridays whereby from 1 p.m. workers can shut down their laptops for an early weekend.

Of course, not all businesses are willing to commit to weekly time off. But many opt for “recharge days” or company-wide breaks to provide that structured downtime without a fixed schedule.

ServiceNow (No. 30) gives staff six additional annual paid days off to focus specifically on wellbeing; HP (No. 90) offers an annual “me day” for the same reason, and IHG (No. 17) provides three “recharge days” a year.

Tax services and software provider Ryan (No. 35) introduced a full-week closure in July, known as the Ryan Break. “This time acknowledges the need for time off not related to holidays and time when the entire company is closed,” Ryan says. Vertex Pharmaceuticals (No. 44), similarly, closes business for a week in the summer and at Christmas.

And then there’s law firm Perkins Coie (No. 89), which goes one step further and empowers workers to take a proper break from the workday grind with a paid sabbatical—that is, around four to eight weeks off at full pay after 10 years of service, and every 10 years thereafter, to “rejuvenate.” And team members at every level can take advantage of the policy.

But by far the most popular work-life balance policy being adopted by the 100 Best Companies to Work For is compressed hours—with nearly half offering the option.

Delta Air Lines (No. 15), PwC (No. 20), and Dow (No. 25) are among the many employers empowering staff to pursue more flexible schedules, like working longer Monday through Thursday in exchange for a three-day weekend. One thing is clear: Employers who invest in flexibility reap the rewards of a happier staff.

More on the 2025 Best Companies to Work For:

This article appears in the April/May 2025 issue of Fortune.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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Trump has unwittingly set off a brain drain of ‘intellectual refugees’ as U.S. applicants to U.K. jobs spike

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President Donald Trump’s pitch has been bringing jobs back to the U.S. But a growing number of Americans would rather search for employment outside the U.S. amid the changing political landscape. 

Americans made up 8.5% of foreigners interested in U.K. jobs in the first three months of 2025, an increase of 2.4 percentage points compared to a year ago. That makes Americans the fastest-growing U.K.-interested job group, and puts them not far behind leader India (11.3%), according to job search site Indeed

The renewed interest from the U.S. comes amid a slew of policy shifts from the White House. 

After Trump’s axing of billions in federal research funding, which has impacted the broader field of academia, more U.S. applicants in scientific research and management were clicking on job postings in Britain, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

A recent survey by the science journal Nature found that 75% of its 1,600 respondents, who were scientists, were mulling leaving the U.S. for Europe or Canada because of President Trump’s actions.

The crackdown has attracted attention beyond the scientific community in some cases, such as recent White House moves against the world-renowned Harvard University. The Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in multi-year government grants to Harvard because the university refused to comply with policy changes regarding diversity, hiring, and more.  

The brain drain seems to be due to Americans looking for avenues of greater freedom and stability, Richard White, a University of Oxford oncology professor, told Bloomberg.

“Back in the U.S., the U.K. is now considered the stable place to do scientific research. If people have this sense that things could be more stable elsewhere, that’s where they’ll go,” said White, who relocated from New York in 2022.

Europe’s chance

Others have also noticed the tide turn as more people consider their options overseas. 

Yann LeCun, chief AI scientist at Meta, warned in a LinkedIn post last month that “many U.S.-based scientists are looking for a Plan B.” This could be Europe’s chance to scoop up top American talent given that the U.S. was “destroying its public research funding system,” LeCun said.

Europe seems prepared to receive the talent outflow. In January, days after Trump was officially sworn in as president, European Central Bank’s Christine Lagard highlighted the opportunity, saying the region could lure some of America’s “disenchanted” talent

Paul Graham, a computer scientist and cofounder of startup accelerator Y Combinator, wrote in a post on X that a foreign-born undergraduate student in the U.S. asked him if he should establish his startup in the U.K. given “the random deportations.”

He responded by saying that doing so “would be an advantage in recruiting.” 

“What an interesting twist of history it would be if the U.K. became a hub of intellectual refugees the way the U.S. itself did in the 1930s and 40s. It wouldn’t take much more than what’s already happening,” Graham, who was born in the U.K. and studied in the U.S., said in the post from Tuesday.

European and U.K. challenges

To be sure, the U.K. and Europe have their own fair share of challenges, from low productivity and a smaller startup ecosystem to rising right-wing extremism. Even still, they seem like better options for some candidates than Trump’s America.

While some Americans have shown their eagerness to move from the U.S. through job applications, others have done so by tapping on their eligibility for citizenship elsewhere. 

U.K. Home Office data pointed to a 26% increase in U.S. nationals applying for British citizenship in 2024 compared to a year earlier. And even for those who aren’t qualified to jump ship, the avenue to move to the U.K. seems more tempting now.

“[Some] Americans are now looking for a way to come here short of citizenship, to at least get into the country and leave the U.S.,” Ed Wanambwa, partner at law firm Russell-Cooke, specializing in U.K. immigration law, told Fortune last month. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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Crypto investment startup Glider raises $4 million in round led by Andreessen Horowitz 

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The founders of crypto startup Glider want to help people invest in crypto more easily without having to deal with brokers or centralized exchanges. 

To do so, Glider seeks to let users automate crypto trading, swaps, and other activities involved in decentralized finance in a personalized way, co-founder Brian Huang told Fortune. Decentralized finance, or DeFi, refers to a sector of the crypto industry that uses blockchains and digital contracts to offer financial services without intermediaries like banks. 

“Glider does everything behind the scenes or runs in the background, but you have full control of your assets and you still get the underlying utility of all those assets,” Huang said.

On Wednesday, the one-year-old company said it has raised $4 million in funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, with additional participation by Coinbase Ventures, Uniswap Ventures, and GSR. The company did not disclose its valuation in the funding round. 

Glider also announced its participation in the Andreessen Horowitz Crypto Startup Accelerator in San Francisco this spring. 

The New-York based company plans to use artificial intelligence to help users tweak their crypto investments to their desired specifications. This can involve cherry-picking a few coins to hold in an ETF-like structure or holding trending tokens on a particular chain, Huang said. Using AI in combination with DeFi, Glider plans to let users control their crypto assets without constantly having to make trades themselves. 

“Everyone should be able to tune their portfolio exactly how they want it, automate it and do exactly what you would like to do within your own risk profile and tolerance,” Glider co-founder John Johnson told Fortune

Glider is still testing its technology, which it plans to launch in the coming months. The company plans to make money by charging users a management fee based on a percentage of the customer’s assets under management. 

There are already many companies, including Bitwise and Grayscale, that help customers manage their crypto investments. However, Huang says Glider is different because, unlike traditional asset managers, it will not take custody of users’ assets. 

“It’s a lot like these traditional finance advisors, but we do it completely non-custodial,” Huang said, meaning that Glider will use blockchain technology to let users maintain control of their investments at all times. 

The money raised in this funding round will be used to hire more employees and develop the company’s marketing strategy, Huang said.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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Burglars tunnel through concrete wall into LA jewelry store and steal $10 million in watches, pendants and gold chains

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Burglars tunneled through a concrete wall to gain access to a Los Angeles jewelry store, making off with at least $10 million worth of watches, pendants, gold chains and other merchandise, police said.

The heist happened around 9:30 p.m. Sunday at Love Jewels on Broadway in the heart of downtown’s jewelry district, according to Officer David Cuellar with the LA Police Department.

Investigators were reviewing security camera footage that shows the suspects entering the store from a large hole they drilled from the property next door, he said.

“They tunneled through multiple levels of concrete into the target location,” Cuellar said Tuesday.

An unknown number of suspects fled through the same hole and drove off in a late model Chevy truck, he said. The heist wasn’t discovered until store employees arrived for work Monday morning.

Initial estimates are that $10 million worth of merchandise was stolen, Cuellar said, adding that the number could change. The owner told The Associated Press the loss was around $20 million, and that they did not have insurance. No alarms went off and the feed to their in-store security cameras were cut.

At the store on Tuesday, workers covered up the hole in the wall with a metal plate, repaired other damage and cleaned up overturned display cases and discarded boxes. Two large safes were broken into, containing all the merchandise they had in the store.

Customers and friends stopped by to offer sympathy, with some even asking to purchase items.

Love Jewels’ website advertises items like a 14 karat yellow gold rope chain for $1,200, heart-shaped gold earrings for $200 and a gold cross pendant for $550. Videos on the store’s social media shows glass cases filled with rings, watches and necklaces.

Detectives examined the scene for fingerprints and DNA, police said.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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