Page 68 - NWF November Updates

Working from home during the pandemic has led to challenges for employees from all walks
of life. Even people that are seasoned in working from home are facing the hurdles that
homeschooling or limited access to community resources can cause. As we work from home

longer, it’s important to prioritize the mental wellbeing of our staff. In too many workplaces,
trying to hide the added difficulties of caregiving or wellbeing is yet another burden people
have to carry, and we don’t want that to be the case at the National Wildlife Federation.

COVID-19 and its wide-ranging impacts on staff is just one crisis currently being faced. When
you layer onto the pandemic the anti-Black racism and violence, threats to civil liberties of
LGBTQ+ people, uncertainty surrounding the upcoming election, economic stressors, and the

many other challenges being faced by staff right now, it is critically important that we continue
to find ways to allow staff to take care of themselves and their families.

For open wellbeing to be a success, we will extend a level of trust to our employees, actively
putting our value of empowerment into place. We believe that employees will be mindful of
this concept and utilize it appropriately. We also believe that our staff will be more committed

to their jobs at NWF when they know they have additional wellbeing leave if needed,
especially when that time off represents having to choose between work and taking care of
themselves, or fulfilling their other obligations in life. We anticipate that our open wellbeing
policy will be a tool for attracting and retaining our talent. It demonstrates to our staff that we
want them to take care of themselves, and we value their health and wellbeing.

Implementing open wellbeing leave isn’t something that can be done quickly. It takes time,

planning, and testing. This is an evolving policy and consistency is the key to a full
implementation. This policy is new to all of us and will take some time to work out the kinks.
We have provided examples below of what we believe wellbeing to be and what it is not.
Open wellbeing leave is not intended to replace vacation leave. We have designed the open
wellbeing concept to be an inclusive policy.

What is considered Wellbeing Leave?
This list is not exhaustive and is provided to give some examples of what common situations
wellbeing could be used for.

• Sick time for you or your dependents, including parents and grandparents

• Doctor/dentist visits
• Civic engagement time (protests/marches)
• Spiritual time
• Financial – financial advisor, college financial planning, taxes
• Bereavement (beyond the time NWF already gives)

What is not considered Wellbeing Leave?
This list includes examples that were questioned during the course of the past year that do not
qualify for wellbeing leave. It is not meant to be exhaustive. If a supervisor receives a