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The startup view - Retaining stars

The startup view - Retaining stars

Trust in staff to complete work, a four-day week and freedom at work are crucial

Jim Mortleman, Computing Business
17 Nov 2008

Startups are by their very nature more agile than established organisations. But the innovative approach of successful Bath-based high-tech events organiser Carsonified to its small staff could hold lessons for larger companies, thinks Canadian-born chief executive and founder Ryan Carson.

“We have a deeply held belief that people should be treated well. Too many companies treat employees like children,” he says.

Carsonified takes a hands-off approach to management, gives all staff an Aeron chair and an iPhone, and offers one particularly alluring perk: a four-day working week. “People are generally smart and efficient enough to get their work done in four days,” Carson says.
“If you hire talented people, give them a good working environment with as much freedom and flexibility as you can, and then trust them to do a good job, they do.”

He also thinks staff should work on things “just for fun” periodically to keep them creative and build team spirit. “We have an idea week twice a year where we give staff four days and a small budget to do anything they want – not for financial gain, purely for fun. Last time they came up with the Mattinator, a Twitter mashup web site. It got written up on TechCrunch, so there
were business benefits for the company as well, although that was not the aim,” he says.

“If you do not allocate a week or two of your entire year to keeping your people refreshed and creative, how can you expect to succeed? If you are so desperate to squeeze every drop out of employees, clearly you have a particular view of what makes them productive – and I believe that is the wrong view.

“People want to work somewhere they have something to believe in and where they are treated with respect. They cannot be passionate if their business obviously does not believe in them and that is the problem in many traditional companies.”

Carson points out many other high-tech startups have similarly creative staff policies, and are seeing similar results, which he thinks is good news for the future. “This stuff works – and as companies start treating employees right, I believe they will see the results and become more successful, which can only spur on more companies to do the same,” he says.