That was the reaction I got when I broke the news.
At a recent consulting-CTO gig, I had to remind a new staff member that the company rarely closed for holidays.
It’s unfortunate, but that company’s business model is balls-to-the-wall, hyper activity in the pursuit of hyper growth. And while we were executing on my plan to automate a lot of what required fingers on the keyboard, it was still a work in progress.
Unfortunately, hyper activity doesn’t always lead to hyper growth. In fact, it seldom does.
If we don’t spare our people, they suffer. And business suffers.
For founders and CEOs, it can be hard to remember that employees view the business differently. As a founder, it’s your baby, your lifeblood. But for employees, it’s a paycheck. Sure, they might be very emotionally invested in seeing the company succeed, but, at the end of the day, they have lives and families. And they need down time.
Tomorrow is Labor Day in the U.S. If you’re a founder or CEO and didn’t give your team tomorrow off, please reconsider. It’s not too late. Give them the gift of time.
They’ll reap the rewards. And so will you and your business.
