Work and Life Mon, Jan 02, 2017
After this extra long, super generous Christmas/New Years break, I hope you all are feeling rested, energized and ready to start another huge year for SlideBelts (and personally, as well, of course).
The work-life balance that we're afforded here at SlideBelts is awesome. I've worked for companies in the past where we were expected to work the day after Thanksgiving; where I'd work a full 8+ hour day and then have to get home and eat dinner at my computer while I continued to work for another 3 or 4 hours; where I felt I had no time to myself to do anything outside of work...besides do work more. That was miserable. Even still, friends at Nike will send me Snapchats of themselves leaving campus at 10pm during certain times of the year. Now that I know the flip side - that's crazy.
I think this long week off was a great opportunity to remember - and appreciate - the importance of a work/life balance that we're incredibly lucky to have here. I think it says a lot about the culture and the type of people that we have, that we just had the kind of record year we did - with 35 hour work weeks, hour-long lunches and an unlimited paid vacation policy. We packed more wins and more productivity into our shortened weeks than some companies will do in a month - and that's something to be hugely proud of.
For the companies and CEOs who think more work is the answer to underwhelming results, hopefully companies like ours can be an example of the huge things that can be achieved with motivated employees who are treated well and given the opportunities to live life outside of work - to go on vacations, to have dedicated time with their kids every evening, to not have to spend family time tied to a computer. The resulting joy and happiness that comes from living a full life outside of work shows when those fulfilled employees come into work every morning ready to work hard, knowing that they'll get to play hard, too.
We are a prime example of this principle working to perfection, and we'll prove it again in 2017. Let's get it!