Summer Day 2009
This post was written by Matt Douglas, Founder & CEO
As a CEO of a startup, I believe it’s really important to stop what you are doing and take some time out to say “thank you” to your employees. After all, they work long hours and are often under a deadline. So how do you show your appreciation?
What I like to do is pick an afternoon to take the team out to lunch and then choose an activity together. In the past, I’ve taken the team to an IMAX movie (dinosaurs) and we’ve also carved pumpkins during the fall. These days always make for great memories, and they help bring the team together.
This past Friday, I gathered everyone in the office for a quick impromptu meeting in the morning. I told them how much I appreciated how hard everyone had been working — and I announced that it was “Summer Day.” We closed the office at noon, and I took the team to have lunch (at a great Asian restaurant in Natick). After lunch, I arranged to have a group brewing session at a local “brew your own beer” place. We had a great time.
For those of you who haven’t taken the time recently to show your team how much you appreciate them, allow me to provide you with a few benefits of planning an afternoon out of the office:
- There is no better way for team members to get to know each other than in a non-work situation. It fosters team unity that lasts.
- An activity out of the office provides a shared experience that will be remembered for years to come.
- Invariably, humor will come from these events — and that’s a great antidote to relieving some everyday stress.
- A small investment in time and money will pay back many times over. Employees who love to work at the company are priceless.
- It’s a great way to enforce that your company believes in a healthy work/life balance.
We had a great time brewing beer together, and we’re all looking forward to bottling and tasting our creation in a few weeks (that will happen outside of work hours). Here’s a great shot of a few of our employees working together to brew the perfect beer.
