Snyk Recharge days: Making time to take time

Unlimited time off and generous time off plans are great, in theory. They provide opportunities for employees to take time when they need to, spend more moments with friends and loved ones, and experience life outside the office — whatever that may look like in our hybrid world. However, with commitments to projects, programs, and workloads, it’s natural that many of us forget to prioritize our time off to relax, rest, and recharge. 

That’s part of why we launched Snyk Recharge — an initiative that enables Snykers to take time off simultaneously to ensure we all focus on our mental and physical health. We recognize that unplugging is an important part of finding balance in your life, and it helps us to disconnect without the added stress of missing meetings or getting behind on work. Rather, we disconnect as a team once a quarter, so that we can provide a stress-free time to rest and recharge. 

Because our teams are global, finding the right days for all locations to truly recharge can be a challenge. However, we make sure to select days that most, if not all, of our Snykers would benefit from so that they don't return to an increased workload after these days off. Given that May is also Mental Health Awareness month, having a Snyk Recharge day to kick off the month was a great way to remind our Snykers to put their mental health first by starting with taking time off.

Recharge days provide an opportunity for us to do something we enjoy, spend quality time with loved ones, or try something new and exciting we might not have found the time to do yet. This Snyk Recharge day, I took advantage of the time and went to visit my best friend Manuela.

We had a great time together and got to catch up in person for the first time in years. I am grateful for this benefit and the additional energy we shared in the meetings today, telling each other the cool things we did with our time off. I asked a few of our other Snykers how they chose to spend their time recharging, and here’s what they said:

Omri Negri — Director, Technical Success — London, UK

So on Recharge day, I woke up early and took our son for a long walk — giving my partner the entire morning to chill — and take him to go and drink our fancy coffee at a nice place. Then, we went to the food market to buy groceries to cook a really nice family dinner with friends. For me, Rdecharge day is all about being together.

Noa Moshe — Product Manager — Tel Aviv, Israel

I finally had time to catch up with friends that I hadn’t seen in a very long time — charge my social life.

Tim LeRoy — Lead Technical Success Manager — London, UK

I planned my wedding — visited some venues and tasted the lunch place.

Belyn Lai — Senior Social Media Marketing Manager — Remote, CA

My parents came to visit me and we went to the San Diego Safari Park. Hanging out in nature with animals who are well taken care of alongside my parents was so good for my soul.

Florence Tong — Sales Operations Manager — Boston, MA

I was in NYC for Recharge day! It came at the perfect time because I had been in NYC hosting an art festival every night after work the week of. Spent the day relaxing and went for a walk in Central Park to recharge.

More Recharging on the way

It’s so great to see how Snykers are choosing to spend their day off. I especially loved hearing about all the quality time spent with family and friends. 

Our next Snyk Recharge is coming up in July, but rather than take a single day to reset and relax, we are taking off the entire week starting July 2. I know I’m already looking forward to spending time with my family, and I’m sure my fellow Snykers have some exciting plans in store for the week. I can’t wait to see how we all spend it!