Andrew Timming is making the most of his additional "well-being" leave by doing "basically nothing" in locked-down Melbourne, the RMIT university professor says.
"It's the best thing I have done for a long time," he said.
"People do need to detach and step away, even if stepping away doesn't mean stepping away from your home."
The university has given fixed-term and continuing staff an additional five days of paid leave to be used anytime between now and December 17.
"RMIT's global community has made an extraordinary contribution this year, continuing to work, teach and research despite the circumstances we face and the demands in our lives due to the pandemic," said interim vice-chancellor and president Dionne Higgins.
To make it easier for staff to switch off, RMIT declared a "slow down week" from August 30 to September 3 while students are on mid-semester break.
Many staff have taken leave, while those still at work have cancelled non-essential meetings.
Pandemic leave will pay itself back
As an expert in human resource management, Professor Timming said giving staff additional paid leave during the pandemic was not altruistic but a smart investment.
"You have to look at it like any other investment a company makes," he said.
"Employers were realising that the possibility of widespread burnout was real, and they needed to do something to mitigate that, especially with the lockdowns — it was at the point of reaching a crisis."
Although the extra leave will cost organisations in the short-term, Professor Timming believes it will be more than paid back in increased productivity, lower rates of burnout and greater staff retention.
"I think this shows what real leadership looks like," he said.
Will we see a 'recharge leave' domino effect?
Alongside RMIT, most Victorian universities have offered some kind of additional leave to staff during the pandemic.
It has also been picked up by institutions interstate.
Today is a university-wide well-being day for staff at the University of New South Wales.
It also has two "recharge weeks" scheduled, where staff are asked to reduce meetings and emails as much as possible "as a way of providing some breathing space".
For staff in Canberra, a "soft shutdown" has been scheduled from August 28 to September 12.
At the University of Adelaide workers collectively purchased an additional two weeks leave to be taken by all staff during the shutdown period.
University of Melbourne has also given staff an extra five days of "recharge leave" to help "ease the pressure" of the pandemic.
"Especially with this latest lockdown, we want to make sure that we could do something to ease the burden on [staff] somewhat," Vice Chancellor Duncan Maskell told ABC Radio Melbourne.
Some private companies and not-for-profits have also given staff extra leave during the last 18 months.
Professor Timming hopes recharge or well-being leave will continue to be taken up by more employers.
"It is still a minority of organisations who are creating a specific category of leave on top of annual leave," he said.
