Company culture doesn’t mean Friday beers! We are changing the way we work at DSMN8.

In 2009 I founded my first company E-Tale. At the time I had one child, who was around six months old (yes I know, who starts a company in a recession with a newborn baby!). After a very challenging and all-consuming 5-year journey, we were fortunate to build a great company that was acquired in 2014 by ChannelAdvisor. A real dream come true for everyone involved!

Coming back for round two (DSMN8) in early 2016, life was very different for me personally. Now with two children whom both have action-packed schedules including netball games, dentist appointments, sleepovers and of course the dreaded school run!

In addition to my children growing up, my wife, who had supported me through my dream was now fulfilling hers and was in full-time education studying for her degree at Oregon State University.

In summary... ‘shit changed’.

Not only was life different, but being a good dad was my number one priority and not something I was willing to compromise on. Having seen so many entrepreneurs struggle to maintain relationships and families, I was sure that I didn’t want this to be me. So in many ways, my self-image experienced somewhat of a seismic shift, from an ‘always on’ entrepreneur to something new... a ‘father first’ entrepreneur.

This is something that came to the surface this week as a significant event took place in the life of our Chief Revenue Officer, Alex Hann who has just welcomed his first child into the world (Freya, born at 7 pounds, 10 ounces on 5/5/19). This new life started to make me think about the company we are building and what ‘culture’ we want for everyone who works at DSMN8. Do we want an ‘always on’ burnout culture, or something more sustainable for the business and the wellbeing of everyone in the company?

Upon reflection, we implemented the following for ALL DSMN8 employees:

A work anywhere policy - obviously we have certain limitations. We require people to have a good internet connection with the ability to cope with HD video. If one of our employees wants to travel and take their work with them, we want to support them. 

• Unmanaged holiday - We contemplated 'Unlimited' holiday, but lots of research suggested that this made staff take less holiday as they did not feel that they can do so in good conscience. Instead, we have opted for 'un-managing', essentially meaning that you don't need to ask for approval, you take a holiday when you feel it makes the most sense. 
• Premium Health insurance - All employees (and spouses/children) have access to a premium health insurance plan that includes the full outpatient cover and a virtual GP. 
• Financial Incentives - In addition to the above, every employee of the company has some form of financial incentive linked directly to the performance of our clients. When our clients win, everyone wins. It’s that simple!

All of the above points are built on a foundation of trust and respect for the needs of the company, and of course our clients. Someone who doesn’t share in this need for trust and respect, probably will not be with us for very long. That’s fine by us... why? Because we know that we will always find people who want to work for a great company

I also believe that by not supporting a flexible/remote workforce we run the risk of: 

1. Reinforcing gender bias - Statistically speaking, women are more likely to be expected to take the lead role in caring for children. Its no secret that unless you are very lucky, it is unlikely that you will be able to work 8:30 - 5:00, Monday to Friday, and care for children full time. 
2. Losing trust - If we feel the need to monitor people’s time, then it’s clear we don’t trust them. Trust is a two-way street. 
3. Settling for average - if we limit our hiring pool to people who can travel to a specific place at a specific time, we will miss out and will probably have to settle for second best.
4. Wasting time and polluting the planet - everyone travelling in to ‘get in for 8:30’ means more cars on the road (often in traffic). Not only is that time better spent on other things, but it also doesn’t create the best start to the day.

So what does this have to do with the company culture? Well, we want to build a company of entrepreneurs who want to create amazing things. For us, culture isn’t 'beers on a Friday', it’s more about working with trust and respect for our colleagues and working towards our shared mission as a company. 

Technology has made all of this possible, and as a technology-led business, we want to embrace the luxury this has offered us. 

In summary... If reputation is what people say about you when you leave the room, the company culture is how people act when they are not being ‘managed’. 

I would love to hear what people think about this topic! What do you think makes a great company culture?