First Unlimited Leave, then Shared Parental Leave and now the Digital Detox - Virgin Management Unveils its Latest Initiative

LONDON, September 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Virgin Management has today unveiled its latest initiative to support the health and wellbeing of its employees - the Digital Detox. The family office, which sits at the heart of the Virgin Group, announced the Digital Detox as part of its Disruptors event which takes place on Monday October 3^rd at the Mermaid Theatre, London EC4V 3DB.

Virgin Management, the investment and brand licensing office at the heart of the Virgin group, hit the headlines two years ago when it released plans to give all employees Unlimited Leave, next came its enhanced Shared Parental Leave package which gave all parents including adoptive parents and irrespective of gender, up to 100% of their basic salary over the 52 week period of shared parental leave. Digital Detox is the next stage of its mission to ensure all employees achieve a work / life balance.

The Digital Detox takes place every Wednesday morning for two hours, all emails are shut down and no access is granted for the two hour period. The move is designed to encourage employees to spend more time communicating with colleagues, stop focusing on the inbox and step away from the desk.

The Digital Detox is just one of the initiatives set to be debated at the Disruptors event which will be hosted by Sir Richard Branson and feature 16 other speakers who are disrupting in their respective industries. Speakers include Holly Ransom, CEO Emergent, Chuck Stephens, Head of Diversity at Google, Dr Andy Walshe, Head of Performance at Red Bull and Matt Wallaert, Director at Microsoft Ventures.

Digital Detox applies to 200 employees at Virgin Management based in the New York and London offices.

Josh Bayliss, CEO of Virgin Management, said:

"We were concerned that our teams were spending too much time communicating via their inbox, the Digital Detox is a great way to encourage people to talk with one another, share ideas, innovate and spend time away from their desks. Digitalization and flexible working has fantastic benefits but we want to help our people balance this.

"This is another innovative move from Virgin Management but it's early days. We're continually collating feedback from our employees about how we can improve the Digital Detox, how it impacts them and the benefits. "

Previous Virgin Disruptors have featured topics such as the Future of Education, the current state of employee wellbeing, the future of travel, have entrepreneurs lost the will to innovate? and has tech killed the music industry? and has featured panelists such as Prof. Brian Cox, Will.I.Am, Guy Kawasaki and Arianna Huffington.

To find out more about the Disruptors event and to purchase tickets visit: virgin.com/disruptors.