On a weekday afternoon, Ashwini Ashtankar sat on the financial institution of the Doodhpathri River, in a valley nestled within the Himalayas. Taking a deep breath, she observed that there was no metropolis noise, no air pollution — and no work emails.
Ashtankar, a senior instruments improvement engineer in NVIDIA’s Pune, India, workplace, took benefit of the corporate’s free days — two additional days off per quarter when the entire firm disconnects from work — to recharge. Free days are absolutely paid by NVIDIA, not counted as trip or as private day off, and are along with country-specific holidays and time-away applications.
Free days give staff time to take an journey, a breather — or each. Ashtankar and her husband, Dipen Sisodia — additionally an NVIDIAN — spent it open air, mountain climbing up a mountain, taking part in in snow and exploring forests and luxurious inexperienced meadows.
“My free days give me time to concentrate on myself and recharge,” mentioned Ashtankar. “We didn’t take our laptops. We have been in a position to fully disconnect, like all NVIDIANs have been doing on the identical time.”
Ashtankar returned to work feeling refreshed and recharged, she mentioned. Her staff exams software program options of NVIDIA merchandise, specializing in GPU show drivers and the GeForce NOW game-streaming service, to ensure bugs are discovered and addressed earlier than a product reaches clients.
“I take delight in tackling challenges with the best stage of high quality and creativity, all in help of delivering one of the best merchandise to our clients,” she mentioned. “To do this, typically the most efficient factor we are able to do is relaxation and let the soul meet up with the physique.”
Ashtankar plans to construct her profession at NVIDIA for a few years to come back.
“I’ve by no means heard of one other firm that actually cares this a lot about its staff,” she mentioned.
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