8th & Home is fully closing for four weeks this December.

December 14, 2026 through January 8, 2027. All of us, all at once (more coming soon, on the "all of us" as we introduce the new 8th & Home team!).

No skeleton crew. No "just checking email in case something comes up."

This isn't the humble-brag OOO message, being shared to virtue signal (while we then quietly answer emails during said break. Rest IS infrastructure (and the report we shared last week backs this up). It's infrastructure that is AS important as our contracts, our billing cadence, our values, and our systems.

If we want to keep showing up with sound judgment and full energy for our clients, recovery has to be built into the calendar on purpose ... and not pieced together only when we are at our wits end, or when the schedule allows it.

Here's what that means for our clients:

• No deliverables, calls, or check-ins scheduled during the closure—every Statement of Work / contract is built around it.
• Out-of-office messaging goes up December 1, so folks have the reminder.
• True emergencies—a board crisis, a legal deadline, a safety issue—route straight to me.

Why draw this hard a line, when we all know (or at least we *think*) that nonprofit work is ... crucial. The mission doesn't stop, right? What would happen if every single nonprofit followed suit and closed down for 4 weeks ... or thoughtfully crafted a coverage plan by bringing in temporary workers, or rotated staff to prioritize rest?

Because I sit inside succession and interim leadership work all day, every day, I see what happens when organizations treat capacity as infinite.

This report makes the funder case plainly too: workforce sustainability belongs in the same due-diligence conversation as financials and programs.

If your own team does not have a rest policy yet, I'd love to hear what's stopping you. Reply and tell me. If you'd like to see our shiny new Rest Policy here at 8th & Home, reply and ask. I'd love to talk about it.

-Naomi, your Leaving Well guide to navigating workplace transitions 🧡

We normalize workplace transitions one organization + person at a time. Leaving Well is the art + practice of leaving in the workplace, with intention + joy.