You recently received funding and are ready to go on a hiring spree. You find the first perfect candidate. You start negotiating compensation. This is easy. The salary must fit in your budget. The stock option grant has been predetermined by you, the founders, and possibly your investor. All is smooth sailing until you receive the follow-up questions: what is the dress code? how much vacation time will I get? what holidays will I have off? can I work from home? You are caught off guard and didn’t realize that new employees may want structure. Your instinct is to respond on the fly to appease this candidate and lock down your first hire. This is a recipe for disaster. You are at a defining point where your company’s culture is starting to mold and, in the wise words of Dr. Seuss, say what you mean, and mean what you say. To avoid contradicting or conflicting policies that give your startup a shaky foundation, these are some things you may want to consider.
1) Define your company’s vibe
It seems like everyone wants to portray coolness these days with swanky, Google-esque offices. But office space doesn’t make you cool. You need to decide what your company’s vibe is first, and then follow through from there. Case in point: I worked for a company that built out its brand new offices with polished concrete floors, store front office windows and no locks on doors. The company was trying to portray an open atmosphere where people would collaborate freely with one another and feel comfortable walking into their bosses’ offices to ask questions. But in reality, everyone always had their doors shut, headphones on and walking into the boss’s office meant getting snapped at regularly. The company had built a culture where people kept to themselves and the very expensive new offices didn’t change that. So before you roll that ping pong table into your conference room, think about whether you really want people playing ping pong during office hours.
2) Pick a work environment that suits that vibe
Nowadays, most people can work anywhere they have a good WiFi connection but that doesn’t mean they should. This goes along with your company’s vibe. Does it make you more comfortable knowing everyone is in the office working? Would you rather meet in person with your team to vet ideas? Then start looking for office space. Would you prefer to work at home in your pajamas? Are you comfortable with team collaboration through Slack or GoToMeeting? Do you inherently trust your employees to get their jobs done remotely? Then you may not need office space and maybe your company should get a co-working membership with available conference rooms in case of important meetings. Here, it doesn’t matter which type of company you are so long as you follow through. Don’t get office space just because you feel like you should. If you know everyone prefers to work from home, including you, getting an office will just make people feel obligated to report there and may cause less productivity. Even worse, don’t tell your employees you are okay with them working from home and then constantly check up on them to make sure they are actually working. Nobody likes that boss and eventually your employees will quit like I did.
3) Set a policy on employee vacation time that matches your company’s personality.
There are some fairly progressive companies such as Virgin Atlantic and Netflix that allow employees to take unlimited vacation days so long as they still perform their job functions. More commonly, employers provide 10-15 paid days off (in addition to holidays) and allow employees to accrue additional days based upon how long they are with the company. Company holidays typically include: New Year’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day (4th of July), Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Friday after Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Some employers also include Federal or other holidays such as President's Day, Good Friday, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, Veterans' Day, Columbus Day, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. Which holidays you decide to allow employees to take off is less important than how you treat them when they do take them off. I worked for a company that closed the office on all Federal holidays but then all of the bosses would show up to the office making everyone else feel like they had to as well. Don’t do that. We weren’t really working in our offices, we were messaging each other about how awful it was to have fake days off. Choose a policy and stick to it. That doesn’t mean you cannot change your policy later as your startup evolves, it just means whatever policy is in place should be honored.
4) Now hire employees who fit within that culture.
Once you define your culture, hire candidates that fit into it. You may be tempted to hire an employee with a stunning resume but hates working in your office with the rest of the team. Don’t hire them. Hiring a person you know is not a cultural fit will just frustrate you and, in turn, will frustrate your new hire. There will be another qualified candidate. Keep looking.
It Will Be Worth It In the End
Thinking these things through from the beginning may take more time but the process will help create a stable, stress-free and balanced environment for new employees. On the contrary, failing to establish your culture from the beginning tends to lead to employee confusion and frustration. And the last thing a startup wants is a high employee churn rate or, even worse, a mass exodus of employees like fellow startup Clinkle.
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About the Writer
Andrea is the Co-Founder, CMO and General Counsel of YouRoam, a mobile application that allows users to make and receive calls anywhere in the world on their own cell phone number. Andrea is a recovering lawyer and holds a JD/MBA from Stetson University in Gulfport, Florida. She was a partner at a boutique law firm prior to leaving the practice of law to join YouRoam last year.
This was written by a SG contributor.
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