Grant Thornton Adds 4-Day Holiday Weekends, Half-Day Fridays, and Other Perks

Grant Thornton LLP, one of America’s largest audit, tax and advisory firms, has implemented a new summer time-off policy for all of its U.S. professionals. Under the new policy, all three of the firm’s summer holidays — Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day — will be four-day weekends. Further, the firm will give colleagues more free time by closing every Friday at 1 p.m. local time from June 3 through August 26.

The additional time off is part of the firm’s mission to ensure its peoples’ overall well-being — a mission that Grant Thornton believes will ultimately cultivate better-supported and happier professionals who can continue meeting clients’ ever-evolving needs.

“This summer, we want to give our colleagues more time for what matters most to them and the people they care for,” said Mike Monahan, Grant Thornton’s national managing principal of People & Community. “For some of our people, that might mean more time with family or loved ones. For others, it might mean time to travel, pursue a passion outside of work, or simply relax. In the end, our peoples’ health — both physical and mental — is integral to serving our clients with the quality and excellence they’ve come to expect from the Grant Thornton community of professionals.”

This new summertime policy arrives shortly after the firm’s announcement that it is absorbing healthcare premium increases for the 2022 calendar year. Moreover, the firm has regularly implemented new healthcare and lifestyle benefits throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This roster of benefits includes:

Flexible time off that allows employees to disconnect from work as needed instead of tapping into a predetermined set of paid days off;
Expanded family-care benefits, including enhanced parental leave and access to childcare, eldercare, pet care, meal planning, housekeeping and other resources to support quality of life;
Flexible work arrangements such as reduced-work schedules, compressed work weeks and flexible days — regardless of level;
Subsidized meal-delivery services;
40 hours of chargeable time annually to engage in volunteer activities;
Flexible career-development and learning opportunities that work with people’s real-world schedules;
Quiet hours and other measures to reduce the fatigue of video conferences and remote work; and
Lifestyle accounts for much of the firm’s workforce offering reimbursements for well-being expenses, such as fitness equipment purchases.