CEO explains why he gave his employees $2,000 and told them to go on vacation

The founder and CEO of marketing company SteelHouse (Now MNTN) has been defying conventions.  Mark Douglas has introduced two employee-friendly policies that have challenged the norm and transformed the way his company operates. The first is a vacation fund and the second is a three-day weekend, which Douglas calls "SteelHouse Days." While critics may call it a waste of work hours, Douglas argues that it is the best thing the company has ever done. 

The Steelhouse Days

Back in 2017, Douglas announced one three-day weekend each month. The extra day off came in addition to the company holidays. 

People may think a lot of time and thought would've gone into coming up with the idea of SteelHouse Days, but Douglas once told Business Insider that they aren't the product of careful cost-benefit analyses. Instead, Douglas says they are part of the company's mission to trust its employees. Another reason was to allow people to work less and get more time for leisure activities.

SteelHouse Days aren't like normal holidays or time off. In a separate interview with The Independent, the CEO mentioned that on a Steelhouse Day, no worker is required to be on their device to respond to a team member. 

SteelHouse Days allowed each employee to take 40 hours off every year. That means, if SteelHouse has 250 workers, that's 10,000 hours of productivity lost. Thus, Douglas says that he took a bet that it would ultimately benefit the workers and the company as well. 

That's exactly what happened. As per the Business Insider report, in the first year, the policy didn't affect the company's bottom line at all. However, it brought the team closer and the workers weren't burnt out. 

Douglas added that customers also like doing business with a company that cares for its workers. Even if the extra inactive days may seem inconvenient for some, the goodwill that the company earns matters more, he explained.

Extra Time to Recharge and Team Bonding

Apart from the SteelHouse Days, the company has also provided its workers with $2000 a year to go on any vacation they want. The team also gets five extra days off each year, one for each month apart from the three-day weekend. Douglas told the Independent that several workers use a portion of the $2,000 to take trips on SteelHouse Days.

Ultimately, this allows people to come back energized and more excited to do their jobs. The policy also improves team morale and helps build a sense of unity as workers often take trips together. 

Douglas added that employees recognize the added benefits they get and they reciprocate with loyalty in their work ethic. "Everyone works pretty hard, but I think they feel like there's a give and take," he said.

Being Employee-Friendly Makes You Popular

Douglas explained that his company's employee-friendly practices have allowed it to attract top talent. He said that his recruitment team has heard from countless candidates who wanted to work for SteelHouse because they feel it looks out for their workers.