​A Note on First Fridays Off

April 1st will be a “first First” for us at High Impact—the first day celebrating our new company policy, First Fridays Off. This policy makes the first Friday of each month a company holiday, meaning High Impact will be closed for business each first Friday going forward. It represents a radical expansion of our PTO and holidays policy—12 new days off in one fell swoop—and the biggest change in our benefits policy since our founding. We are making this move as the first step in revamping staff benefits in 2022 to acknowledge the changes and challenges of the post-pandemic business environment and reemphasize that the well-being and development of our staff comes first. This move will reinforce the attractiveness of becoming and staying a High Impact employee and position our team to continue delivering best in class client service.

Implementing this policy is further operationalizing our B Corp values to consider the interests of all of our stakeholders when making business decisions. We view this policy as a meaningful way we can encourage work-life balance and support our employees’ mental health. By forcing a free weekday once a month, our staff will all receive the mental health benefit of a “breather”—a day to slow down, give attention to our personal needs, and enjoy the “life” side of the work-life balance. We strongly believe that deliberate breaks, and not just longer (but infrequent) vacations, have an important mental health benefit.

We understand that some of our clients may have concerns about how this impacts our workflow and ability to provide them with the excellent service that they rightly expect from us. At the micro level, we are confident that one day of company closure per month will not materially impact workflows—our staff have time and time again shown their capacity to meet deadlines while delivering superior analysis. Taking a longer-term view, we firmly believe that by further reinforcing our staff’s wellbeing this change will actually result in improved service for our clients.
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As we implement this policy, we thank our clients for their continued confidence and trust in us. And most of all, we thank our staff for their unwavering dedication to using their skills to benefit mission-driven lenders and the at-risk communities they serve. First Fridays Off is a celebration of that dedication and an acknowledgement of the hard work that they do, day in and day out. We are excited to see how everyone uses their first First Friday, whether it be by exploring the great outdoors, catching up on household needs, visiting out-of-town friends and family, or enjoying hobbies. We hope everyone finds the time to relax, reflect, and recharge—and don’t worry, we’ll be back on Monday.