Doing Crypto Is Exhausting: Coinbase Experiments With '4 Recharge Weeks' A Year To Keep Workers' Productivity High

Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ: COIN) says it is experimenting with “four recharge weeks” where the entire company would shut down so its staff members could “all enjoy downtime without work piling up.”

What Happened: Coinbase Chief People Officer L.J. Brock said in a blog post on Tuesday that the recharge weeks will be staggered through the year at the rate of “roughly one per quarter.”

“Four weeks of coordinated recharge time might sound like a lot of time off for a company in hypergrowth, but given the intensity of our work throughout the year, we think this is the best way to ensure our pace is sustainable for the long term,” wrote Brock.

The executive wrote that Coinbase has a flexible time off (FTO) policy in place in eligible countries. However, many employees did not take time off in 2020 because “they didn’t want to force their teammates to cover for them or because they didn’t want to fall behind on their work.”

It is then that Coinbase instituted recharge weeks, one at the end of 2020 and two in 2021. Critical teams with 24/7 responsibilities such as customer service and security scheduled alternate recharge weeks.
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Why It Matters: Brock wrote that employee surveys carried out after the recharge weeks were put in place indicated that 52% of employees said recharge days and weeks “were the primary tool that helped them rest and recover in 2021.”

Last year, the cryptocurrency trading platform said that it was committed to being “remote first.” The Brian Armstrong-headed company announced on Twitter in May last year that it was closing its San Francisco office in 2022 to show its workforce that “no one location is important than the another.”

We've committed to having no HQ, and it’s important to show our decentralized workforce that no one location is important than the another.

— Coinbase News (@CoinbaseNews) May 5, 2021

Coinbase is the second-largest cryptocurrency trading platform by volume, according to CoinMarketCap data.

The company went public in 2021 — a year that saw prices of some cryptocurrencies rise phenomenally. Coinbase shares debuted at $381 and ended 2021 at $256.79, which is a decline of 67.4%. 

In 2021, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), the apex cryptocurrency, rose nearly 70%, while in comparison the S&P 500 index rose 28% and gold fell by 7%.

Price Action: On Tuesday, Coinbase shares closed nearly 5.4% higher at $237.23 in the regular session.

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