Key Takeaways
- Logitech is giving all of its 7,000 employees a day off to play video games through its new “Logi Game Day” initiative.
- Everyone from full-time staff to interns can participate and choose their own game.
- Logitech CEO Hanneke Faber is challenging the idea that gaming wastes time, stating instead that play can support performance at work.
Forget about the meetings and the deadlines. Pick up a gaming controller instead.
A day spent playing video games usually means taking time away from work. Now at Logitech, that time away is company-approved.
The $14 billion tech company is giving its entire workforce a flexible day off to play video games, including the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI, which comes out on November 19.
Logitech’s new initiative is called “Logi Game Day,” and it gives every employee, including interns, the chance to take one paid day off to play a game. Workers can choose a day that works best for them, from now until this time next year.
The initiative marks the first gaming day in the company’s history, per a company press release. It saves employees the hassle of using a sick day for gaming.
“It’s time to retire the stereotype that gaming is a waste of time,” Hanneke Faber, Logitech’s CEO, said in the release. “As a company designing products for work and play, we see every day how engagement in one sphere supports performance in the other. ”
Celebrating Game Day in the office
Employees can even play video games in the office. Logitech’s gaming brand, Logitech G, revealed this week that it will launch a streaming event to celebrate Game Day. The event will take place at the company’s Americas headquarters in San Jose on November 19. Robin Piispanen, Logitech G’s general manager and a former competitive gamer, will act as the event host.
“Whether diving into a game like GTA VI or Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4, shaving seconds off lap times in Forza, or teaming up in an online battle, Game Day gives our team a shared purpose,” Piispanen said in a press release statement. “We see firsthand how Logitech employees who sharpen their skills in-game translate directly back to work and problem-solving.”
Faber herself plans to play Grand Theft Auto VI when it comes out. She will head into Logitech headquarters, which will transform into a fully equipped gaming lounge that day.
“I’m ready for some fun and (friendly) competition,” she said in an interview with Fortune.
Other executives celebrated the decision to offer a day off for gaming.
“Play is not the opposite of work,” Elaine Laird, Logitech’s chief people officer, said in a press release. “When people have dedicated time to log off, decompress and immerse themselves in play, they return with clearer focus, renewed energy and fresh approaches to complex challenges.”
Research conducted by the company backs up these claims. In Logitech’s recent Ctrl Tomorrow study, 81% of gamers said playing helps build real-world confidence and improve work performance. A separate study conducted by the company in August found that 98.8% of respondents said gaming skills had a direct connection to workplace abilities like problem-solving.
Key Takeaways
- Logitech is giving all of its 7,000 employees a day off to play video games through its new “Logi Game Day” initiative.
- Everyone from full-time staff to interns can participate and choose their own game.
- Logitech CEO Hanneke Faber is challenging the idea that gaming wastes time, stating instead that play can support performance at work.
Forget about the meetings and the deadlines. Pick up a gaming controller instead.
A day spent playing video games usually means taking time away from work. Now at Logitech, that time away is company-approved.
The $14 billion tech company is giving its entire workforce a flexible day off to play video games, including the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI, which comes out on November 19.
